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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28825830">adagio</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkitsunii/pseuds/kkitsunii'>kkitsunii</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, atsumu tries to hate shouyou and ends up in love, he's also a prince (not a very good one but still) give him a break</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:27:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>26,040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28825830</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkitsunii/pseuds/kkitsunii</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Atsumu listened to the stories about the forest: scary enough to deter even the bravest of knights from stepping foot in it once the sun set. He was told to never find himself lost within the dangerous greenery surrounding the kingdom. </p><p>Of course, Atsumu was never one for following rules and meets the glowing boy in the woods.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. the stubbornness of the first born</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello! </p><p>originally i was just planning a one shot that maybe reached around 10k words but my creativity just kept going and created an absolute monster and now this has become one of my favorite projects to work on. :] i hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kita was going to kill him; he had probably sent out half the knights into the forest by now. Ten minutes, a plump wild boar and Atsumu’s yearn for praise was the deadly combination which sent him tumbling down a cliff into the forest.</p><p>Water licked up his pants as he maneuvered himself through the puddles which littered the forest floor, leaving dirty tracks of mud on his white hunting attire. He had managed to salvage his prized possessions — a sword gifted to him by the head knight and a small charm engraved with his last name, from flying everywhere during his tumble down the hill.</p><p>He tugged at his pouch, securing it against his belt lest he somehow lose any of the emergency snacks he tucked away before they went on the expedition.</p><p>The expeditions have only just begun, a treat for the twins as they reached double digits and Atsumu had already managed to find himself lost in the treacherous forest without a clue of which direction would lead up.</p><p>As he gazed into the darkness of the forest, shielded by thick treetops which prevented sunlight from peeking through, he half expected a monster to appear and gobble him up. At this point, it wouldn’t have surprised him considering how poor his luck had been to even fall in the first place.</p><p>Osamu was definitely laughing at him. He could very well be dead and his brother’s main concern would be poking fun at Atsumu’s lame legacy of dying alone in a forest. Strangely, the thought made Atsumu overcome with an intense wave of nausea as he pushed through the shrubbery, even more desperate to find a way out.</p><p>It’s not his fault he had gotten distracted during the hike and had gotten lost. If it hadn’t been for that boar which, from the looks of it, looked bigger than anything any of the merchants ever caught, he wouldn’t have casted the capture spell which backfired and sent him flying off the cliff’s edge.</p><p>Had he been taught the spell correctly, and not been deterred because he was apparently too young to learn advanced sorcery, this ordeal never would have happened and he’d have been smugly bringing back his prized boar and his dignity. He was ten years old, and clearly had the power to do more than just simple protection spells yet he was stuck at the same level as everyone else his age.</p><p>He groaned, which clearly was a poor decision considering he heard an intense rumbling of footsteps approaching him at a frighteningly fast rate immediately after.<br/>
Atsumu really was going to die alone and have the lamest legacy in the kingdom. He squeezed his eyes tight, readying a protection spell which swelled in his palms, however impact never came.</p><p>Something bright exploded in front of Atsumu’s closed eyes, a loud yelling assaulting his ears at the same time but he never opened his eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, in fact, he was desperate to see what just happened in front of him however his eyelids felt heavy, weighing themselves down.</p><p>And suddenly, Atsumu felt the branches of trees scrape the back of his clothes, tearing the fabric open and without a doubt drawing blood. He didn’t feel the ground anymore, the wetness dripping down his ankles as he was sucked into the air.</p><p>When the treetops stopped assaulting his back, only then was he able to open his eyes.</p><p>He was floating. The forest looked quiet and peaceful from above, an illusion to mask its creepiness once you stood within it for more than a minute. He could feel the rain pattering against his skin, dampening his clothes as he floated through the sky.</p><p>Everything registered at once.</p><p>“Holy shit!” Atsumu yelled into the open air, no one could reprimand him for his crass wording anyway, he was meters above the ground. He held his arms out, trying desperately to prevent whatever spell had been cast on him to not wear off due to his instability.</p><p>He shoved the fear away as he felt a pull in the direction of the castle, which assured the boy that everything was going to be fine despite the unlikely turn of events which landed him hundreds of feet above ground.</p><p>Osamu was never going to believe him.</p><p>His relief was premature. Wind battered at his skin, tickling away the wetness but applying an intense chill which overcame his whole body. His floating grew unstable, and within ten seconds, he was falling back to earth. This time, there was no escaping death, surely Atsumu had been mocked right before his demise.</p><p>He braced for impact, muttering spells he had never bothered to learn correctly, and hoping his desperation bore fruit and saved him from his now certain death.</p><p>Once again, death never came.</p><p>Although, at this point, Atsumu kinda wished it did as he faced Kita who looked as if he had steam coming out of his ears. He was so screwed. Kita relaxed the spell he cast on Atsumu, allowing him to smack the ground with a painful ‘thump.’</p><p><br/>
He heard Osamu scoff behind him. His head shot up to retort, however immediately dropped back to the ground at the sudden pain which pulsed through his skull. Had he really hit his head that hard?</p><p>“Expeditions are canceled for you, ‘til ya learn to listen to orders.” Kita declared, his voice housing an intense finality to it which made Atsumu shiver. Or perhaps he shivered due to his sopping wet clothes, regardless, he made no argument.</p><p>“Tsukishima and Kunimi will take ya back, don’t make it hard on ‘em.” With that, Kita walked away, his royal cape protecting him from the rain. “The sun's setting.”</p><p>Atsumu felt the heated stares, both Kunimi and Tsukishima had been tasked with watching him, and undoubtedly both had gotten an earful from Kita. Had they noticed him fall sooner, maybe he’d had avoided his near death experiences, surely it was their fault.</p><p>“The sun is setting, get up.” Tsukishima reminded him, as if Kita didn’t just declare the same statement seconds ago. “You aren’t promised to be safe until you’re behind kingdom walls.”</p><p>Tsukishima sounded tired, more so than usual. Kita must’ve really let him have it considering he hadn’t said anything mean yet. Atsumu was almost impressed. “Give me a second.” He replied, hoping Tsukishima got the memo that he couldn’t stand up without his head feeling as if it was going to implode.</p><p>“I’m not going to die for some brat who can’t even master a spell before casting it.”</p><p>Before he knew it, he was brought to his feet by Tsukishima’s magic, it felt rough and worsened his headache by ten fold but at least he was standing. Kunimi opened a portal, one which he casted frequently in order to travel places quicker without exerting too much energy.</p><p>Osamu walked through the portal first, followed by Aran who looked at him pityingly.</p><p>Osamu managed to turn to him and stick out his tongue, fueling Atsumu’s desire to hit him once he had enough strength. He needed to heal his head quickly, the sooner it healed the quicker Atsumu could punch Osamu square in the face for laughing at him.</p><p>His thoughts were cut short as he was shoved through the portal, landing unceremoniously on stone brick which scratched his already raw skin. He attempted to stand to glare at Tsukishima but fell flat on his rear, the world spinning.</p><p>He needed to see the royal doctor.</p><p>“I needta go to the doctor.” He voiced, wobbling himself back to his feet and once again feeling the intense urge to release his stomach’s contents on the floor. Osamu finally looked at him in genuine concern, switching between staring at Atsumu’s face and Kunimi who looked disinterested but ready to do what was needed.</p><p>Served them right. Who decides to throw someone clearly injured through a portal which <em>already</em> makes Atsumu have motion sickness, and then not bat an eye at the blood pooling through the back of his clothes? Really, the kingdom oughtta get better knights because if it weren’t for that weird light he’d have been dead.</p><p>“The weird light,” He voiced his thoughts out loud, unaware of the fact that the group were suddenly debating taking him to the kingdom’s shrink as well as the doctor.</p><p>“Think he hit his head too hard?” Osamu whispered to Aran who gazed back at Atsumu as if he were some foreign creature he were observing.</p><p>“He is makin’ kind of a dumb face.” Aran whispered back, face contorting in concern, “Does that make you the new heir to the throne?”</p><p>Osamu seemed to contemplate before shrugging, completely disregarding Atsumu who felt absolutely insulted at the exchange. He opened his mouth to convince them they were full of it and he was actually fine, thank you very much, but the throb in his skull rendered him speechless as he clutched his head.</p><p>Once again, the portal was open, this time leading to the castle infirmary, but before Atsumu passed through the portal, his vision grew dark and his consciousness slipped.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Atsumu woke up to a chilled feeling coursing through his body.</p><p>“Don’t move,” Shirabu commanded, his free hand hovering over Atsumu’s chest and his other dancing through pages of an old medicinal book. Despite being the best doctor in the hospital wing, Shirabu never failed to abide by the medicinal book as timely as the foundations of the castle.</p><p>“Do ya ever put the book away?”</p><p>“Don’t move.”</p><p>“I was just askin,” Atsumu averted his gaze to look out the window, daylight poking through announcing it was day and by the looks of it, already afternoon. The pain was gone now, replaced with a continued discomfort as Shirabu casted healing spells on his body.</p><p>Usually, there would be at least some bustle of daily activity, signalling life in the castle, but instead it was silent. He felt uneasy. As if there was something that Shirabu knew but he didn’t, and judging by how quiet the castle was, it further instigated his suspicion.</p><p>Shirabu had always, since the boy became the head doctor after being sent from Shiratorizawa, liked to work in peace and quiet. He was young, barely an adult, yet he reminded Atsumu plenty of the old grump who worked at the village’s marketplace selling carpentry.</p><p>Maybe he’d retire as a carpenter?</p><p>“-sour.”</p><p>Shirabu’s annoyed voice drew Atsumu out of his thoughts. “What?”</p><p>Shirabu had turned away, and instead of answering Atsumu’s question shoved a vial he retrieved off his shelf into his mouth. It was sour.</p><p>“What was that for?” Atsumu sputtered, acrid taste still assaulting his taste buds as tears budded at his eyes. He had just gone through several awful experiences yet somehow, this one was taking the cake as the most unpleasant.</p><p>“Preventative measure.” Shirabu glanced back at the book, eyes flicking across the page at a fast enough rate that Atsumu wasn’t entirely convinced the man was actually reading it. It must’ve been a way of keeping Atsumu silent.</p><p>Unluckily for him, Atsumu was bored and looking for answers.</p><p>Atsumu sucked in a breath, fully prepared to be snapped at knowing Shirabu’s temper but continued anyway, “Against what?”</p><p>“What?” He didn’t look away from the book.</p><p>“Prevenanti-,” He tried, tongue flopping uselessly attempting to pronounce the word. “What happened?” He concluded, figuring it was best not to embarrass himself.</p><p>“I’m reading,” Shirabu said, flipping to the next page without even a glance at the young prince who stared at him, obviously affronted. Atsumu had half a mind to walk out of the infirmary and demand someone tell him what happened.</p><p>As a matter of fact, he decided he would do just that.</p><p>He was halfway out of bed before Shirabu grabbed his arm, tugging him back into the infirmary bed. His face looked absolutely livid. Atsumu swallowed nervously but stood his ground, he deserved answers, and boy, was he going to pester them out of Shirabu.</p><p><br/>
“What happened?” He asked, more firm and attempting to utilize the voice Kita always did when demanding answers out of the twins.</p><p>Shirabu stared at him indignantly, eyes scanned over Atsumu’s face before dragging a hand down his own in frustration. His hands tightened over his book, and Atsumu felt the sudden urge to apologize lest he get smacked.</p><p>“You were hit by unknown magic.” Shirabu explained briefly, adding a hard sigh at the end of his statement at the thought of being bested by a child. “Now,<em> please</em>, be quiet.”</p><p>His thoughts flickered back to the strange light and the pieces slowly fit together like one of the puzzles Aran had. He really did get rescued by something and he couldn’t even open his eyes to see it! God, why did all the cool things always happen to him but with a lame condition.</p><p>Atsumu sat on the edge of the bed, feet swinging at his revelation of having a rescuer. In normal circumstances, he’d be peeved that someone even dared believe he needed saving but considering the possibilities ranged from a guardian spirit to a guardian dragon, he was intrigued.</p><p>“So,” He paused when he caught Shirabu’s glare.</p><p>“<em>What?</em>” He said through clenched teeth, setting down his book finally and turning his full attention back to the prince who stared back.</p><p>Atsumu felt much better now that he knew he wasn’t dying and instead got hit with a floating spell that, although gave him a headache, saved him from getting eaten by some forest beast. Although, he didn’t particularly like the hospital ward because of how cold Shirabu was and how much it smelled like medicine. That part of the experience sucked. The quicker he left the ward, the happier he’d be.</p><p>“How long have I ‘til I can leave?”</p><p>To this, Shirabu answered quickly and easily, “In thirty minutes.”</p><p>Not only did he get hit by unknown magic but he also had the capability to heal really fast? Judging from the looks of it, he was barely asleep a night and he was all better. Osamu was really gonna have to catch up to surpass him in the level of skill he’s been rapidly gaining. He grinned.</p><p>“You’ve been here three days.”</p><p>His grin faded. “Huh?” His throat felt dry.</p><p>Atsumu turned to look directly at Shirabu’s face, eyes scanning over it trying to detect a lie, he found nothing.</p><p>The next thirty minutes passed by uneventfully. Stripped of his dignity and his pride, Atsumu laid back on the hospital bed, begging for sleep to overtake him as he stared at the ceiling. By the time he had begun to drift off, Shirabu nudged him.</p><p>He had a pleasant smile on his face which was anything but pleasant.</p><p>It gave Atsumu the heebiejeebies.</p><p>“You can go now,” Shirabu said, in a tone which sounded half disinterested and part relieved.</p><p>And so, that’s how Atsumu ended up bounding through the hospital ward in search of someone to tell his crazy story to. He had secured his charm in his pocket and off he went, shoes squeaking against the clean tile. It seemed as though as soon as he woke up, people started coming into the building, beginning the usual hustle and bustle of the infirmary.</p><p>Atsumu squeezed through the gaps between nurses as they handled their business in his search for an exit. Why was their infirmary so large? Did people really get injured that much? Atsumu decided he better look into it when he’s older.</p><p>By the time he found the exit, he felt as though he went through hell and back as he wracked his brain attempting to remember which way he’d been. He tucked his hand in his pocket, assuring himself the charm remained safe and began his walk back to him and Osamu’s tower.</p><p>As he walked, he gathered the attention of onlookers he didn’t bother to recognize. Only one in particular caught his eye, though it was only for a split second until the strange man tucked himself into one of the many rooms in the castle.</p><p>Strange.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>“He’s an assassin, huh?” Atsumu accused, eyes flickering between Kita and the strange man standing in front of him.</p><p>Atsumu always suspected Kita of favoring Osamu but this was something Atsumu never thought would happen. Kita very rarely approached Atsumu when he was alone, let alone introduced people to him. He liked it that way, assuming the less time spent with Kita meant less time getting in trouble.</p><p>He must’ve looked downright miserable because the strange man patted him on the head in a weird sort of reassurance. “Not an assassin,” the strange man chuckled, “I’m just a storyteller passing through.”</p><p>Atsumu was dumbfounded, and slightly embarrassed to immediately suspect Kita of treason. He muttered a sheepish apology, much to Kita’s approval and the strange man’s humor.</p><p>“Sugawara-san asked to tell ya stories ‘bout the forest,” Kita explained. He then contemplated the next couple words in his mind, and delivered them, much to Atsumu’s horror. “I told him about the other day.”</p><p>The words felt like a punch to the gut, an utter betrayal.</p><p>The man seemed not to mind, however, acting as if he didn’t just embarrass Atsumu in front of a stranger.</p><p>Atsumu managed to fix his expression just in time for the door to open, Osamu’s head poking through, announcing his presence with a soft greeting. He seemed to sway in the doorway, debating on whether or not Atsumu was getting yelled at and when he heard no one screaming, he entered.</p><p>“I already explained it to yer brother when he was out in the court,” Kita said, a ghost of a smile dancing across his lips.</p><p>As Osamu sat next to him on the bed, Atsumu sent a glance towards his brother in an attempt to say, ‘are you seeing what I’m seeing, something’s definitely up.’ But to his annoyance, Osamu was staring at the entrance of their room, a tuft of black hair visible from where he was sitting. Gaze fixed on the doorway, neither of the twins noticed Kita taking his leave out of a portal he created, nor did they acknowledge the fact they were now alone with Sugawara.</p><p>It wasn’t until he cleared his throat that the twins’ attention focused back on him.</p><p>Sugawara smiled warmly at them, as if to assure the children he was, in fact, not a threat. Atsumu observed his behavior but briefly decided that had Sugawara truly been an assassin, he was doing a shoddy job at it considering he and Osamu were both still alive and well.</p><p>The twins settled into their bed, tucking themselves under the silver colored blankets in preparation for the story. It wasn't the first time people had traveled for the sole purpose to tell the twins stories of their adventures, nor would it be the last. It wasn’t Atsumu’s favorite part of the night but it allowed something to look forward to when the kingdom lulled itself into a boring rhythm.</p><p>He hated when it did that.</p><p>“I heard about what happened in the forest, Atsumu-kun.”</p><p>He started to hate this even more.</p><p>Osamu huffed next to him. “Yeah, ‘Sumu ya should tell him about how ya fumbled yer spell.”</p><p>“It wasn’t my fault.” Atsumu denied, embarrassment creeping up his spine and making his cheeks glow rosy.</p><p>He winced. He really wished Kita hadn’t mentioned the incident to anyone, let alone strangers, but considering even the stranger knew, he assumed the whole castle did as well. God, he was so embarrassed.</p><p>Sugawara just flashed them a smile, ignoring Atsumu’s red face.</p><p>Atsumu got the impression Sugawara-san was definitely enjoying himself, the traitor.</p><p>“Are you both ready?” He asked, opening his book and leaning back in his chair. The story must be long considering Sugawara made himself comfortable in his chair, a long white robe with a crow protecting him from the room’s natural chill.</p><p>Atsumu sneaked a peek at Osamu who had managed to sneak a few extra pillows on his side of the bed, leaving Atsumu with the crummy ones they used for their fights. Osamu matched his eyes, obviously pleased with his sneakiness and his ability to simultaneously annoy and impress his brother at the same time. And people decided Osamu was the kinder one of the twins, hah!</p><p>“It’s a bit of a long story.”</p><p>Atsumu turned back to Sugawara.</p><p>The man was focusing his magic in his palms, colorful swirls bounding in unique leaps in almost a hypnotic rhythm. The twins had never seen such a thing, the level of sorcery seemingly too advanced for anyone they’ve ever met, perhaps even Kita.</p><p>From where they sat, it was hard to decipher what was going on in the colors, although Atsumu blames it on the fact that the display was so cool rather than anything else.</p><p>Sugawara was smiling at them now, eyes fond. “It’s a story about a prince and a fox.”</p><p>Atsumu scrunched his nose, he didn’t particularly like stories about princes that much, deciding the stories always seemed as if they were based on one of the twins, when they were clearly much cooler than any story made them out to be. “Am I the prince or is ‘Samu?”</p><p>Osamu and him had a tally by now, counting how many times either of them have been used as the protagonist in someone’s story. Osamu was beating him by two, the dang cheat, and Atsumu was yearning for the satisfaction of hearing his name recounted in a fable, no matter how inaccurate.</p><p>“Neither.”</p><p>Atsumu was slightly unnerved. “Oh.”</p><p>From beside him, Osamu let out a small gasp.</p><p>It was only until Atsumu glanced back at Sugawara’s hands that he saw it — the illusion of a red-tailed fox leaping around through a meadow, as equally green and lively as the ones adjacent to the forest.</p><p>Sound filtered out of Sugawara’s hands, setting the mood and tone as the fox paused in its steps. The forest stilled. He was so distracted by the amazement of Sugawara’s magic he hadn’t even realized the fox was strangely alone, something which made him feel off put once he acknowledged it. In fact, he hadn’t even realized the darkness settling in around the fox until Sugawara began to speak, voice hushed in concentration.</p><p>“He was young, maybe a year at most and a cocky little fox.” The fox in Sugawara’s palms seemed to shake its head in denial. “Battling monsters, hunting, casting spells — the sort of thing the fox should find challenging, if not impossible in the dark forest.”</p><p>Atsumu’s eyes widened comically. “Foxes can learn magic?”</p><p>This was news to Atsumu, he’d definitely poked fun at how goofy the animal looked before, unknowingly risking being cursed by the creature.<em> Scary.</em></p><p>However, to his immediate relief, Sugawara shook his head and chuckled. “Oh my god,” he said, illusion flickering between his laughter. “No, no most foxes can’t do magic, but in this story this one can.”</p><p>“Didja really think a fox could curse ya?” Osamu teased.</p><p>“Shut yer trap!” Atsumu’s ears burned. A quiet chuckle emerged from the hallway and the tuft of black hair bobbed up and down in clear amusement. Osamu seemed to notice too because his laughter bubbled over at the sight of his brother’s misery.</p><p>To his horror, Sugawara wiped a tear from his eye. “Well anyways, back to the story.” He cleared his throat, and Atsumu was thankful for him once again setting the tone and distracting everyone from his blunder.</p><p>During the small conversation, the fox had sat down, its tail swinging boredly as darkness encircled it. Several shadowed creatures jumped out of the darkness, attempting to scare the little fox into submission but it didn’t waver. The twins watched in amusement as the fox outsmarted and out maneuvered each creature, never showing an ounce of fear.</p><p>Sugawara spoke about tales of the little fox dealing with larger creatures effortlessly, the shadows so mean looking even Osamu flinched. He did too, but he’d never admit to it. By the time the prince arrived in the story, the twins were sitting up and leaning forward, desperately attempting to soak in every detail.</p><p>When he finally appeared, the prince was nothing like Atsumu expected. In fact, he was almost disappointed at how small the prince looked, as if the darkness surrounding him would swallow him up without any issue.</p><p>From what Atsumu had been taught, princes were to be prideful and have an aura that demanded respect and recognition.<em> (Kita phrased it entirely differently however, the words he used flew over the twin’s heads because they were so difficult to pronounce.)</em></p><p>The prince looked weak.</p><p>Osamu beat him to the question, tilting his head in obvious confusion. “Why is he so weak lookin’?”</p><p>To this, the small prince raised his head and at this point Atsumu was entirely convinced these illusions were sentient and could hear the twins heckle them. Sugawara answered. “He’s been out in the forest longer than even the fox, how would he have survived if he was weak?”</p><p>“And looks can be tricky y’know, the fox didn’t look like much until I showed you.” The man added. The boys supposed he had a point, it had taken three monster battles for them to be convinced of how cool the fox was so they settled that the same would happen with the scrawny looking prince.</p><p>The one who still stared back at them, as if reading their thoughts.</p><p>
  <em>Heebiejeebies.</em>
</p><p>“Can he hear us?” Atsumu asked him after he swore he saw the prince stick his small tongue out at him.</p><p>“Not sure...I think they more or less choose what they wanna hear,” Sugawara said, looking down at the tiny prince in fascination. “He’s just as bad as the fox.”</p><p>There was no elaboration on the statement and Atsumu didn’t ask for one.</p><p>The magic started creating scenes again, continuing the story with the addition of the maybe-not-weak prince. The fox found the prince laying in the field, the darkness nipping at its feet but never threatening to trespass past the light the prince was now emitting. “Now I think it’s a good time to ask you what his name should be, the prince is bound to give him one.” Sugawara offered, immediately receiving input from the eager twins who wanted to see how cool the prince could really be despite being so frail.</p><p>Osamu processed the words quicker than Atsumu did. “Onigiri!”</p><p>To which Atsumu countered with his own shout. “Atsumu!”</p><p>“Didja really just try to name the fox after yerself?” Osamu gave him a pained look.</p><p>“It’d count on the tally, plus the fox is cool.” Atsumu responded quickly.</p><p>“I know the fox is cool so why’re ya naming it after yerself!” Osamu all but spat at Atsumu.</p><p>Atsumu’s fist ached for the opportunity to lunge at his brother’s face. He was all healed now so he could land an especially mean punch to his brother’s nose if he tried. Sugawara was apparently fascinated by the whole scene. However it only lasted half a second before Atsumu raised his fist and the man’s patience wore thin. “One more argument and the story is over and it’ll end with both the fox and prince flying off a cliff.”</p><p>For the last part of his sentence, Sugawara locked eyes with Atsumu.</p><p>Several moments of silence passed with no issue. Sugawara nodded, as if completing his duty to scare the twins even more than Kita did. Well, perhaps not that much but enough to where neither of them attempted to even make a peep in fear of causing the man annoyance.</p><p>“His name is gonna be Atsumu.” Sugawara declared, settling the twin’s dispute by siding with Atsumu. He was grateful, another point on the tally chart meant another point closer to being able to rub it in Osamu’s face that he was the better twin.</p><p>The twins watched as Atsumu the Fox curled next to the boy, far enough to be weary but close enough to receive the light which saved him from the creatures in the dark. Slowly, the little prince approached the fox, gathering a piece of food from his pouch and presenting it to the fox in a non-threatening way.</p><p>Atsumu the Fox bit him.</p><p>“Uwah, why’d he do that?!” Atsumu looked absolutely horrified at how poorly behaved the fox was and half expected another much bigger fox named Kita to smack Atsumu the Fox. Despite the bite, which was now bleeding, the prince held out more food in hopes of gaining the fox’s trust.</p><p>It took three tries and three more deep bites to the hand until Atsumu the Fox accepted the food, and by association, the prince as well. At first, it frustrated Atsumu that the prince obviously didn’t listen to the memo that the fox didn’t want to be his friend. If the prince truly wanted the little fox to respect him, he’d have to prove himself.</p><p>In Atsumu’s opinion, feeding the fox was just a cheap form of bribery and a way to escape doing anything cool to impress the fox. Didn’t the prince understand Atsumu the Fox was probably — no <em>definitely</em> the coolest creature in the forest and kindness wasn’t gonna be enough?</p><p>It wasn’t until the biggest, scariest shadow monster they’d ever seen had approached the prince and the fox that Atsumu genuinely gained respect for the little guy. Even if the fox ran fast enough, the monster was right behind him, ready to eat Atsumu the Fox for dinner if given the slightest chance. The twins were getting nervous.</p><p>The prince seemed to notice this though, and instead of running away and saving his own skin, he ran into the shadow monster, standing within it’s demonic frame for a split second before casting a spell which blinded the twins from seeing what was happening within the little realm.</p><p>When the light faded, the twins gasped as they realized Atsumu the Fox laid still in the grass. Atsumu felt his heart tighten at the scene, fearing for the first time that maybe the fox wasn’t as strong as they made him seem. Maybe they were wrong and the fox really did just die in front of them and Sugawara, the cruel jerk, was actually telling them a sad story.</p><p>The fox lifted it’s head, clearing the worry from Atsumu’s head. Atsumu the Fox was basically unharmed, save for a singed tail, the fox looked about as healthy as ever.</p><p>The happiness vanished from Atsumu as soon as he set his eyes on the prince. His clothes were burned and muddied with dirt and twigs and blood seeped out from cuts around his arms and legs. He couldn’t die, could he? Not after finally proving himself as powerful and protecting his friend before shielding himself.</p><p>Atsumu tensed. “He’ll be alright, right?”</p><p>Osamu shuffled next to him in similar concern, his eyes never leaving the injured prince as if looking away would cause the boy to disappear. “He finally did somethin’ cool. He can’t die.” His voice wavered in uncertainty, Atsumu did not like that.</p><p>To their worry, Sugawara did not respond and instead watched as the dark magic swirled away from the meadow in the illusion. In fact, the darkness had been pushed so far back that the forest even looked peaceful rather than treacherous, happy rather than sad. The fox approached the still prince, resting its head on his body and curling into his side.<br/>
Atsumu the Fox glowed with a white light, the light seeping into the prince’s frame and regaining color to his shockingly pale face. The fox was healing him. The prince proved himself. Atsumu let out a sigh of relief. “His magic sucks.” There was no malice behind the statement.</p><p>Osamu hummed in agreeance.</p><p>Everything looked like it was going to be a happy ending. Atsumu the Fox cured the cuts and bruises forming on the prince’s body, who thanks to the little fox, looked chipper and healthy. He watched as the prince sat up, pet the fox and gazed into the forest. The darkness stayed at bay.</p><p>And of all the completely stupid decisions the prince could have made at that moment, he settled for making the most irritating one.</p><p>He walked back into the forest, leaving Atsumu the Fox who now perched himself on a fallen log, and never once turned back to make sure he was following. It was if the prince intended for the fox to stay behind. To watch as the prince walked away without any qualm or giving any reason.</p><p>Atsumu was livid. “What the hell?”</p><p>He looked around the room, expecting to witness Osamu look just as offended as he did. Atsumu had apparently been the only one to become frustrated with the prince, whereas Osamu just remained stoic and searched the scene for answers. Apparently, after he found none, he also managed to get slightly peeved, nowhere near how angered Atsumu had become.</p><p>Sugawara’s hands stopped producing the magic, the scene vanishing from existence. “It’s getting late boys, I’ll finish the story another time… maybe.”</p><p>Atsumu stared at him. “That’s it?”</p><p>“I’m only in the kingdom for a night, when I come back though, you’ll be the first to know the ending.”</p><p>“Ya can’t do that!” Atsumu scowled, glaring at Sugawara in disbelief. Who decided to tell a story, a good one at that, and leave it off on a cliffhanger without any explanation? Sugawara was officially the worst storyteller he had ever encountered, and he had plenty of experience.</p><p>“Yer a real shitty storyteller.” Osamu must’ve read this mind.</p><p>Sugawara, the cruel man, looked almost understanding. “The story isn’t over yet, and I don’t usually leave things half-done. You can trust me.” He stood from his seat and stretched. The twins scoffed. “I think it’s time for you guys to get some sleep.”</p><p>Atsumu sucked in a sharp breath, tossed off the blanket and stormed out of bed to catch up to Sugawara’s retreating figure. “Is it a happy ending?”</p><p>That made the man freeze.</p><p>All Atsumu needed was a yes, a confirmation that the story ended on a good note and the prince didn’t abandon Atsumu the Fox out of the blue. So why, why was Sugawara suddenly frozen as if trying to decide what words to use? It was pissing Atsumu off, and he had been told plenty that he had an awful temper.</p><p>“I — I’ll tell you when I come back, remember?” Not what Atsumu wanted to hear.</p><p>“Then why’d ya tell the story?” Atsumu sneered, wishing he had enough sorcery training to at least hex Sugawara for wasting his time. He was gonna beg Kita to let him learn them because clearly he needed them for this occasion.</p><p>“Goodnight, young princes.” Sugawara said, dismissing Atsumu’s question and pardoning himself out of the room. The tuft of black hair which watched the whole exchange since the beginning was no longer hidden by the doorframe.</p><p>The stunned silence left in Sugawara’s disappearance was suffocating.</p><p>“‘Sumu, it ain’t that big of a deal,” Osamu called from the bed, body already resting in attempts to lull himself to sleep. “Just wait a week or somethin’.”</p><p>A week. Atsumu could maybe handle a week without knowing, if he tried really really hard, he’d even be a little nice to Sugawara even after making him wait.</p><p>A week.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>While it wasn’t explicitly stated by Sugawara that he’d be back in a week, Atsumu liked to hope that the man understood that it was cruel to leave a story half-finished. Surely he made his point clear when he yelled at the man, yet it had been a week and there was no sign of Sugawara anywhere in the kingdom.</p><p>He yanked his bundle of arrow’s closer to his back in frustration. The pouch wobbled in response, one of the arrow feathers smacking Suna in the face.</p><p>“What the hell —! “ yelped Suna, pushing Atsumu’s quiver away from him.</p><p>Atsumu, in his frustrated daze, hardly even noticed his arrows fall out of the quiver until Osamu pointed it out to him. Upon realization, he simply shrugged and continued his walk towards Suna’s room, ready to announce his plan for the umpeenth time that day.</p><p>It was dark now, around 9 in the evening and Atsumu had mentioned,<em> (pestered is a better word Suna used to describe it)</em>, his plan to return back to the woods in fear he had abandoned his guardian much like the jerk of a prince in Sugawara’s story. As expected, Atsumu’s plan fell on deaf ears but that didn’t discourage him from mentioning it during morning training, school, royal duties and supper.</p><p>Osamu looked tempted to agree to his plans in the morning, however he had glanced at Suna and immediately shook his head. Suna, an awful friend since the day Atsumu met him as a toddler, had always managed to be more influential to Osamu when it came down to his original plans.</p><p>It was as if Suna had a detector on which ideas brought up were Atsumu’s and then disagreed with them every single time to spite him. Atsumu had a sneaking feeling that Suna was just jealous of his brilliance but didn’t have proof of it, but the feeling was definitely there.</p><p>Since the incident with the cliff, knights patrolled all different areas of the castle, looking out for any mischief or incident to occur as soon as they turned a corner. Atsumu was sure they were overreacting. Contrary to his company’s belief, Atsumu really did have a valid excuse as to why he wanted Suna and Osamu to at least agree to the plan.</p><p>He was even considerate enough to let them be a part of the plan from the comfort and safety of Suna’s room. Although, as he glanced around the room, he wasn’t too sure comfy was a word best used to describe it.</p><p>Ever since Suna had taken up training with that tall redhead which specialized in his sort of magic, Suna’s magic has been slightly haywire. To be able to separate himself from his body at will was cool in theory, but once he broke nearly everything valuable in his room on accident, Atsumu steered clear of letting him use anything special of his.</p><p>Which is why the three of them stood in a room littered with broken swords, glass and gold scattered on the floor.</p><p>“You broke yer helmet too?” Osamu asked, kicking the metal helmet lamely, a crack evident in the back of it.</p><p>Suna picked it up, examining the crack as if it were something he just now noticed. “Must’ve fallen off the church tower.”</p><p>“Uhhhh…?”</p><p>“It isn’t the good one, it’s whatever.” Suna placed it down on his dresser, the broken mirror being the culprit for all the shattered glass which crunched beneath their feet. Suna was sure lucky he didn’t have Kita inspecting his room, because Suna would probably be on cleaning duty for the rest of his life if he did.</p><p>Atsumu sighed and plopped himself down on Suna’s bed which was the only clean surface in the room. Suna sent him a dastardly look but Atsumu ignored it, tipping his head towards the roof. He had waited until the safety of the room to drop the question again, there was no way they were actually expecting him to have dropped the subject. They knew him better than that.</p><p>“So—”</p><p>Suna shook his head. “I’m not going.”</p><p>Atsumu looked at him, miserable. “Didn’t ya hear the story?”</p><p>“Yes I heard the story, I was <em>there</em>,” Suna placed extra emphasis on the phrase just in case Atsumu somehow forgot seeing his black hair poke through the doorway. It still puzzled Atsumu how Suna was able to sneak around so easily yet rejected his plan to sneak out of the castle. If Atsumu had his power he’d have visited other kingdoms by now, not even stopping at the forest.</p><p>Osamu sat by him on the bed and shook his head. “Ain’t no way Imma let you do somethin’ this stupid and die, Kita’d never believe that I tried t’stop you.”</p><p>“Woah look at you, yer such a good brother.” Atsumu said dryly, and stood up. He considered asking them just once more before he made his exit, but judging from the looks the boys shot him, it was probably just a waste of breath.</p><p>“Well,” Atsumu said, pushing away the glass by his feet, “when I come back with a dragon or somethin’ don’t come cryin’ to me.” He hesitated by the doorknob, and unclicked the lock.</p><p>Suna and Osamu gaped, clearly they must’ve not known how determined he was to find out what saved him. “If I ain’t back by mornin’ yer probably an only child.” Atsumu announced before taking his leave and exiting the room, more glass crunching as he stepped.</p><p>His exit had the unintentional effect of springing Suna and Osamu to their feet just in time for them to witness Atsumu plop an item into his mouth and disappear from their vision.</p><p>“Ah!” Suna fumbled around his clothes, hidden panic growing by the second as sifted through his pockets, his hands came up empty. Atsumu watched from his perch upon one of the shorter pillars, clearly amused and satisfied at both Osamu and Suna’s reactions at the realization.</p><p>Suna oughtta really take better care of his pendant, which luckily for Atsumu, always ended up tucked in one of his pockets or secured underneath one of his pillows for safekeeping. The invisibility charm was just as easy to swipe from its place on the broken dresser. If you asked Atsumu, neither of those places have ever been very safe. He let out a short laugh and ran down the halls of the castle and out into the village, the invisibility charm shielding him from curious eyes.</p><p>He stopped abruptly when he heard them.</p><p>He tucked himself behind a pillar, just in case one of them was somehow able to see through his plan and get him grounded for life. The sounds of drunken laughter echoed from outside the pub, hoots erupting from the group of men as they chuckled at something someone had said. Atsumu had heard it, it was a poor joke about something that had happened on today’s patrols.</p><p>Atsumu didn’t find them very funny.</p><p>He was about to make his leave when he heard Tsukishima’s voice speak within the group, his distinct tone carrying well and giving Atsumu the shivers. Getting in trouble and getting yelled at by a drunk Tsukishima sounded like an incredibly dumb thing to do — he’d take a month long grounding in an instant over that.</p><p>“Have you seen the light again, Tsukki?” A freckled knight asked, alcohol mug swaying as he spoke.</p><p>Tsukishima lifted his head and looked at the moon, he looked more normal and less scary in the moonlight, Atsumu observed. “It’s been unpredictable,” he paused, nudging his glass in the direction of two more knights with unique hair, “It’s those idiots job now, I don’t work tomorrow.”</p><p>The knights with the weird hair turned to him in feigned offence, each smacking a rough hand on Tsukishima’s shoulders. Tsukishima lurched forward, obviously caught off guard.</p><p>“Don’t be like that, Tsukki, one day you’ll be better at your job.” The black haired one chided, squeezing tight on Tsukishima’s shoulders before letting go. Tsukishima shoved the other hand off of him, the other knight ignoring his rudeness with a smile.</p><p>“The prince seems fun to watch. I betcha he’ll be fun to train when he’s older.” The one with gray hair said loudly, probably too drunk to realize how booming his voice was.</p><p>“Which prince?” The freckled knight asked.</p><p>The gray haired one stilled and looked around, he reminded Atsumu of how Aran looked after realizing the twins had pranked him, it was almost funny. “There’s two?”</p><p>The group erupted in another fit of laughter, this time the gray haired one didn’t laugh, but he didn’t look angry either, more confused if Atsumu had to give it a name.</p><p>The black haired knight calmed his cackle first. “You’ve been here three years and you never knew, c’mon man, maybe you’ve had a few too many already.” With that, he whisked the drink out of his friend’s hand and downed it in one large gulp.</p><p>
  <em>Bleh.</em>
</p><p>“Atsumu.”</p><p>Atsumu stiffened.</p><p>“The older one’s name is Atsumu.” The freckled knight said, standing on wobbly feet and extending a hand to balance himself on the metal railing, “don’t get Tsukki started.”</p><p>In response, this only made the gray haired knight even more curious as he immediately began to bombard Tsukishima with questions about Atsumu. Truthfully, Atsumu would have been flattered if it wasn’t for the knight forgetting about his existence in the first place.</p><p>Atsumu fought the urge to stay and observe the rest of the conversation. The quicker someone realized he was gone the quicker he’d get caught and it would’ve been a waste of the day’s preparation. And by the looks of it, Tsukishima was looking for any way to opt out of the conversation.</p><p>For good measure, he didn’t stop the rest of the way during his trek to the forest, not even when he heard his name being muttered around the commoners who had nothing better to do than gossip. For every sparing compliment he heard about himself in the kingdom, there were about three insults in response, Atsumu didn’t pay them any mind.</p><p>He was a kid, they’d grow to love him eventually.</p><p>Atsumu reached the forest in time to witness the light flicker in between the trees in the distance, it was brighter than he remembered, almost like the sun had fallen down to Earth and had gotten trapped beneath the treetops.</p><p>He felt a stinging sensation on his tongue, signalling the invisibility charm wore off.</p><p>Stealing one of Suna’s invisibility charms was an obvious decision, there was no way Atsumu would have slipped past the countless guards which patrolled the kingdom without it. However, stealing more than one charm completely missed his thought process as he patted his body in a mixture of worry and regret.</p><p>A full day of planning and Atsumu couldn’t have remembered the charms had a time limit. He almost let out a laugh. He had planned to investigate the light and return to the chambers alive, a feat which was growing more and more unlikely the longer he stood in the treeline.</p><p>If he died in the forest tonight, Kita would definitely find a way to resurrect him to lecture him, Atsumu was sure of it.</p><p>Taking a shaky breath, he rubbed his hands together quickly and clasped them, blowing into them until a small flame lit, illuminating his path over the fallen branches and leaf piles on the forest floor. Although it hadn’t rained in days, the dirt was muddy and stuck Atsumu’s feet to the ground with each step.</p><p>In hindsight, Atsumu should have registered this as a warning and should have turned tail back into his sleeping chambers where his continued existence was guaranteed. Although, as he’d later state, he wasn’t a coward and therefore continued his painfully slow trek deeper into the forest.</p><p>Every so often, he’d singe a handprint into the trees, marking his trail just in case he managed to get lost within the dense shrubbery.</p><p>During his first trip in the forest, Atsumu had made the mistake of letting his guard down and not paying attention to the various sounds and coos which echoed through the trees. This time, he was fully prepared to scope out anything which made a noise. Although that was under an assumption that there would be something making noise.</p><p>The forest was eerily quiet.</p><p>To make matters even worse, Atsumu, who had his eyes fixated on the light since he stepped foot into the forest, lost track of it. The moonlight, which slipped between the cracks of the trees, provided the only illumination besides the wavering flame in Atsumu’s palm. How he managed to lose the one thing he was meant to follow was beyond him.</p><p>And yet, despite everything, Atsumu walked further into the trees, determined to find the light again.</p><p>Sometimes, during his sorcery training, he listened to people whine about his determination to finish the things he starts. It had gotten him disliked by his peers who refused to better themselves each time he beat them at sparring, they had gotten complacent and Atsumu had grown hungry.</p><p>A flicker out of his peripheral made Atsumu swivel his head, locking onto the light which caught his attention a week ago. The feeling of his legs aching made Atsumu aware that he was running towards it, hopping over debris and discarding his original intention to remain silent.</p><p>Since the morning, his thoughts had been fueled with the idea of finally catching the light — to finally have the satisfaction of knowing what had saved him that night. The idea alone carried Atsumu’s legs faster than he had ever run before, athletic ability be damned.</p><p><br/>
The light was blinding his eyes now. It was unmoving, as if waiting for Atsumu to run into it and swallow him underneath its rays. He closed his eyes, stopping the burn and ran blindly into the brightness. His own heart pounded in his ears, a drum beat which amplified the moment as he reached out and burst through the light boundary.</p><p>Only, the light was gone, and his hand clutched onto an arm which was certainly not his own.</p><p>The feeling of touching human skin after his sprint through the woods was surely enough to send Atsumu to the shrink for days. “What’re you doing?”</p><p>Atsumu took back every time he ever said he was envious of Suna’s magic, and realized that his soul leaving his body was certainly the most frightening thing he’d ever experienced. He opened his eyes in a hurry and jumped back, as if he had been burned by the strange boy emitting light in the forest.</p><p>There was a lot to take in. Between the flurry of orange hair to the tattered black clothes he wore, Atsumu couldn’t figure out one thing about the boy that explained what he was doing in the middle of the most dangerous forest known in this side of the country.</p><p>And yet he had the audacity to ask him what he was doing.</p><p>Atsumu gathered himself quickly, and in the most confident voice he managed to muster he asked, “Who the hell are you?”</p><p>The boy blinked.</p><p>Atsumu was absolutely certain that if this boy was a monster, he was done for, his lack of manners finally screwed him over and the regret of never listening to Kita tell him to be respectful to strangers flooded his mind.</p><p>Several insufferable seconds passed before the boy finally spoke again, curing Atsumu of the heart attack which was bound to happen.</p><p>“I’m Hinata Shouyou.” Hinata said, taking sparing glances at the forest behind Atsumu as if he were looking for something. There was a long pause before the boy leaned in, cupping his hand to whisper, “You should probably be careful, there’s a huge troll looking thing that keeps trying to pick fights.”</p><p>
  <em>What the hell.</em>
</p><p>As if on cue, there was an intense rumble not too far from where they were standing.</p><p>Atsumu felt his heart drop.</p><p>Hinata, to his horror, smiled.</p><p>Atsumu raised his hand to clutch at the pendant which glowed under his touch, eyes searching for movement behind the branches. Hinata didn’t seem as concerned, instead, he focused on what Atsumu was gripping and even had the audacity to sneak a hand out to touch it.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Atsumu hissed, slapping Hinata’s hand away. He was the one who told Atsumu about the troll in the first place, and yet he seemed at ease, as if it were a normal night and trolls were a regular problem.</p><p>“I’ve never seen one of those up close.” Hinata explained, reaching out for the pendant again. This time, Atsumu let him.</p><p>He had never seen someone so interested in the necklace, not even Suna was that impressed when he got it on his birthday. It was expected, if the kid wanted to really be impressed he should see Atsumu’s room, that was actually impressive.</p><p>“Can I borrow it?” Hinata asked, toying with the golden crystal hanging off the chain.</p><p>Atsumu pursed his lips. Hinata didn’t look like a thief, although truthfully Atsumu had only encountered one and he didn’t look like much of a thief either until he was in the middle of robbing the princes of gold.</p><p>“No ya can’t.” Atsumu pulled the stone out of Hinata’s fingers.</p><p>Hinata shot him a pout. “If I use it I can take down the troll like ‘wham!’ instead of a ‘whoosh!’”</p><p>“What’s that even mea —”</p><p>“Duck!”</p><p>The ground shook and knocked Atsumu off his feet just in time for a heavy metal spike to rocket itself across the area he occupied seconds earlier.</p><p>Atsumu looked up at Hinata, only to be met with the other boy shoving his hand over Atsumu’s mouth and ducking down into the tall grass below him.</p><p>“Uhm.” Hinata released his hold over Atsumu’s mouth and clenched his fist around Suna’s pendant before pulling it off his neck in a sharp, swift motion. The broken chain fell lamely to the ground, and Atsumu bit his tongue just in case he snapped at Hinata.</p><p>With the pendant in his hand, Hinata sprung to his feet and started running towards the rumbling sound. Atsumu attempted to chase after him and the pendant but his body felt cemented into place, as it had been bound to the ground by a bunch of chains. It felt heavy.</p><p>“I’ll give it back I promise, I need to borrow it!” Hinata called from god knows where, the bounding of Atsumu’s heart muting any and all sound.</p><p>The consequences of his actions rolled over him like a lazy wave, slowly drowning him in his own frustration. One week of planning, and he had discovered the light, only it wasn’t at all what he expected. Instead, the light was some kid in the forest who robbed him and left him paralyzed in the grass just waiting to be eaten by the stupid troll he had mentioned earlier.</p><p>If the guards weren’t so dumb he’d have been caught right before slipping into the forest, and then sent to his room where he’d be safe and cozy and maybe even a little spiteful. None of this would have been a problem if they just told Atsumu the light was something lame.</p><p>He kinda wanted to cry.</p><p>The heartbeat in his ears pounded louder, and louder until it felt like it had popped out of his body completely. Only for some reason, it sounded like a bunch of heartbeats beating around him. The forest was full of mysteries and cruel jokes to play on Atsumu, it wouldn’t have surprised him.</p><p>From the ground, everything looked peaceful. The sky was dark and sprinkled with stars, and the trees over his head swirled with different shades of brown and green. It was pointless trying to deny his fate now. He was most definitely going to die in the forest this time. The short boy had definitely gotten captured, or worse, eaten by that monster and he probably was so small he just counted as a snack and the troll was coming back for him to finish the job.</p><p>What a waste of a life.</p><p>It was like everything happened at once. The sky exploded in light, as if all the stars in space fell down to earth and combined to create one massive one. It didn’t burn or feel warm at all, in fact it was unbearably freezing. It was as if the world dumped an ice bath all over him, making his bones even more stiff and his ability to move even stricter.</p><p>The feeling disappeared as quickly as it came. The stiffness of his joints relaxed and for a small second, Atsumu believed he could finally move with no problem. Except, as soon as he did, his arms and legs felt like jelly and slammed him face first into the ground again, busting his lip wide open on a small rock.</p><p>“Ah! Are you okay?!” Atsumu heard Hinata’s voice approach him. He must’ve been running because he sounded out of breath. Atsumu kinda wanted to snort and tell him that of course he was not okay considering his lip was bleeding and his face was still pressed against the dirt, but decided against it.</p><p>He had no more energy.</p><p>The footsteps stopped abruptly and Atsumu half wondered if he had been hallucinating Hinata’s voice the entire time. There was a beat of silence before Atsumu was reassured Hinata was actually there and he had not hit his head hard enough to lose his mind.</p><p>“Who are you?!” Hinata shouted, footsteps growing quieter which told Atsumu the boy was backing away. Perfect, something even the trollhunter was scared of was next to him and he could barely even move.</p><p>He heard a familiar annoyed huff from behind him and Atsumu instantly wanted to chase after Hinata, because the boy had every right to be scared and Atsumu had every reason to be absolutely terrified.</p><p>“Is the daring little prince finally realizing he isn’t so tough, hm?” Tendou crouched by his head, craning his neck to look at Atsumu with a look that had enough power to give him nightmares for a week. “I’ve gotta say, you made it pretty far without me having to save you.”</p><p>For what it’s worth, Atsumu didn’t hate Tendou, in fact, he thought the man was the coolest one out of all the sorcerers in the castle. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t absolutely terrified of being in the same room as the redhead. Something about him gave him the creeps, and the fact that the man was inches away from him looking amused didn’t help.</p><p>Tendou planted his foot right next to Atsumu’s forehead and nudged it to the side, examining his scraped face and his bleeding lip with an entertained gaze. “Ooh, when Kita-san told me to follow you didn’t expect you’d hurt yourself the second I wasn’t looking, Atsumu-kun.” Tendou tsked, taking his shoe away from Atsumu’s face.</p><p>Of course Tendou had been following him. There was no other reason for the forest to have been so eerily quiet and for Atsumu to have been so lucky.</p><p>He was never lucky enough to outsmart Kita.</p><p>Tendou stood up, his joints popping as he stretched to his full height.</p><p>Judging from the frightened noise Hinata made, they must’ve locked eyes. “As for you, none of the forest monsters went near you,” his voice was hushed now, making the experience all the creepier, “all the more fun.”</p><p>“I— You don’t scare me!” As brave as Hinata tried to sound, his voice trembled.</p><p>Almost immediately, Tendou realized his mistake and put up his hands innocently, or well at least that’s what it looked like from Atsumu’s perspective. The ground was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute as he watched the exchange through weak shadows provided by the moonlight. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I won’t hurt ya,” Tendou eased, crouching down and lifting Atsumu onto his shoulders.</p><p>Atsumu didn’t like being manhandled, less so when it was by someone who more or less freaked him out, but if it meant finally getting out of the dirt, he had no complaints.</p><p>“You’re stronger than this brat,” Tendou jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Atsumu who, if he had enough energy, would have bitten it. “The second he walked in he was almost mauled by a bird, a bird!” Tendou cackled, Atsumu bouncing along with his chuckles from his perch on the man’s shoulders.</p><p>Tendou calmed himself and eyed Hinata again, his aura no less threatening than earlier. “We’re heading back to the castle,” he waved and turned around, this time, Atsumu was facing Hinata.</p><p>His clothes were even more ruined and he clutched Suna’s pendant between his dirty fingers. Atsumu doubted Suna would ever want the pendant back after knowing what it had gone through, but it was a problem for another time. The weight of Tendou’s hand prevented him from wriggling around to get a better view at the boy.</p><p>Tendou wouldn’t really leave Hinata in the forest right? Look at him! He looked about as sick as any person he’d ever seen walk into the infirmary.</p><p>Almost as if Tendou could read his thoughts, he extended his arm in a dramatic display of beckoning Hinata over, jostling Atsumu in the process. “Follow if you don’t want to get eaten by a troll, he had a family y’know, they’re awfully angry.”</p><p>Hinata sent a glance over his back, as if looking to make sure there weren’t any more trolls coming. Of course there weren’t, Tendou probably blasted all of them along the way to save Atsumu. Hinata didn’t need to know that.</p><p>Tendou didn’t seem to doubt that the boy would follow. And Hinata, of course, didn’t prove him wrong as he fumbled his way alongside Tendou who had a suspicious spring in his step, flopping Atsumu around like a ragdoll on his shoulder.</p><p>“Wakatoshi-kun said no more strays, but you should be fine.” Tendou chirped, amusedly humming along to a melody that only he heard.</p><p>Something about the situation didn’t sit right for Atsumu, whether it was the fact Tendou seemed too excited to bring back the glowing boy in the woods or the fact that there even was a glowing boy in the woods, Atsumu couldn’t put his finger on it. Something was off when Kita didn’t immediately ground him when he got back to the castle, and something was most definitely off when Hinata was herded into a section of the castle far away from the princes.</p><p>Atsumu should have known better.</p><p>Although, he was exhausted, and decided he’d just talk to Hinata about what happened when he left with Tendou and why he was even in the woods first thing in the morning.</p><p>However, much like Sugawara, Atsumu expected to see him again the next day, only for his disappointment to rise. Then, he waited a week like Osamu had told him, but once again, there was never any sign of Sugawara or of Hinata. Then a year, and soon enough Atsumu had forgotten about the whole ordeal.</p><p>Until he saw the boy four years later, dangling by his robes atop the church tower.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. consequences</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Atsumu glared up at the darkening sky, the clouds above crackled with wisps of lightning in response. The smell of rain lingered throughout the kingdom, but the storm never came.</p><p>It usually rained in the kingdom, but this year, a thunderstorm, the worst one they’ve seen in decades, had been predicted to make landfall this week.</p><p>Atsumu thought it was a load of shit.</p><p>Although, if he was honest, he thought a handful of things were a load of shit. Like how training had been cancelled today, and Kita had used the opportunity to teach the twin’s about paperwork instead of letting them spar in the rain that wasn’t coming.</p><p>Or the fact that he had dug his feet into cracks in the stone brick by the infirmary, and spent twenty minutes dodging wandering eyes as he forced his way up onto the roof. Only for his favorite rooftop spot to be bombarded with someone throwing a tantrum on the other side of the window.</p><p>He didn’t announce his presence. That would ruin the fun of shocking his classmate who was currently hurling insults and punches at the wall, all, Atsumu gathered by his word choice, directed at him.</p><p>Judgement was just a part of his life as a prince, no matter what he did or what he said, someone in the village or amongst the people in the court, would smear his name through the mud. It’s not that he minded, half the time he never even recognized the people who talked about him, but it was still irritating to listen to when he was attempting to relax.</p><p>He pressed his back to the wall, attempting to ignore the constant thudding of the boy’s hits, and scanned the courtyard below for something to fulfill his desperate need for entertainment.</p><p>This spot on the rooftop provided a perfect view of the courtyard and the sparring area and was right outside the hallway which led to the infirmary, basically promising the area to be silent. Four years later, and Atsumu still listened to Shirabu’s request for the area to be relatively quiet.</p><p>Although he had broken the request several times, the latest time he visited the infirmary, Shirabu had threatened him with a concoction that smelled like rotten milk and vinegar, and that was enough to get Atsumu to shut his trap and remind himself to never fuck with Shirabu when he was cranky.</p><p>From above, Atsumu watched as Kita walked past a number of knights on their daily stroll and stopped them, probably directing them to find Atsumu as quickly as possible lest he get rained on by the impending storm. It wasn’t gonna happen, not even Osamu knew of this spot.</p><p>The knights sped off at a pace that looked comically as if they were marching away from Kita, metal swords clinking in their holders as they trekked in all different directions, searching for the eldest prince. The eldest prince which so happened to be stifling a laugh at how stupid they looked.</p><p>There was another shout from inside the hallway. It caught the attention of a crow which perched itself on a ledge, eyes boring down at Atsumu as if it knew he was hiding.</p><p>He recognized the voice this time, one of a boy in his sparring class who Atsumu happened to humiliate in front of the rest of the swordsmen who watched the spar. The spar was quick, and if anything Atsumu was generous to leave the scrub with only a few cuts, not enough to put him out of commission, but enough to get Atsumu’s message through: <em>don’t talk as if you’re strong when you’re so obviously weak.</em></p><p>There was a loud painful thump, this time followed by a string of curses.</p><p>Atsumu groaned softly, attempting to gather his thoughts and make his decision on whether he should just leave before his temper got the best of him and he decided to hex the boy with a muting spell.</p><p>He had already gotten in trouble twice this week for hexing his brother with random spells he found when the twins had been escorted to the library. Hexing a kid he didn’t even know, let alone care about would just be a pain in the ass to explain to Kita who’d undoubtedly ground him from sparring for weeks.</p><p>“‘Sumu, don’t go ‘round hexing people regardless if they’re shit,” Atsumu mimicked Kita’s voice, hushed enough that no one could hear. Except maybe the crow which stared at him, eyes squinted, taunting.</p><p>Atsumu <em>hated</em> birds.</p><p>When he was ten, he had been stalked by one in the forest, and the only person to know about it as well as save him happened to be Tendou. While he didn’t let any information slip, he didn’t let go of the empty threats of starting the tantalizing rumor until a pouch of gold was tucked safely in his arms.</p><p>He lifted his hand, a dark blue magic swirled in his palm, ready to be directed and inflicted upon someone or something. “I’ll make it quick, dontcha worry,” Atsumu said softly, but his tone lacked any hint of comfort.</p><p>The crow didn’t respond – of course, but it made an awfully loud guffaw and ruffled its wings as if it knew Atsumu’s intentions. While Atsumu wouldn’t purposely injure the crow, he did send a streak of dark magic towards it in hopes it got his message of not wanting to be bothered.</p><p>And almost as if the universe wanted to taunt him once more on his already crappy day, the crow started flying directly at Atsumu, dodging his magic and clawing at Atsumu’s clothing as it attacked. Whether it was the clanging of Atsumu’s body hitting the wall as he fought off the creature or the loud caws the crow made, the window latch made a familiar unlocking ‘clink’.</p><p>Atsumu pushed himself to his feet, hitting the bird with a calming spell as he moved. His feet were unsteady on the uneven rooftop. Within seconds he dove behind a stone beam, eyeing the boy from a crack and as he craned his neck to see what the commotion had been about, as if he hadn’t been causing some himself.</p><p>For a second, Atsumu hardly breathed. The possibility of ruining his favorite rooftop spot was a risk he was not willing to take.</p><p>A part of him wanted to stay, to wait until the boy’s footsteps clued Atsumu he was gone, but at the rate the day was going (absolutely shitty), Atsumu would rather not take his chances.</p><p>So, he gathered his frustration and what was left of his pride, and walked towards his<em> second</em> favorite rooftop spot.</p><p>The pain from the bird attack was dull, aside from the occasional throbbing of his head from the headache that was forming, Atsumu was fine. He tugged at his shirt to pull it as far away from his bloodied cuts in hopes the blood wouldn’t spread and look worse than it was. The last thing Atsumu needed was to get babied and taken out of training because a bird decided to have a pissy attitude with him.</p><p>Osamu would never let him hear the end of it. He’d probably even purposely talk about training around him, looping Suna into teasing Atsumu too because the dick could never miss an opportunity. And for some god damned inexplicable reason, the two were attached at the hip. It was creepy.</p><p>The walk to his spot on top of the church tower went by relatively quick. The guards he avoided, which usually lazed around twirling their thumbs, were too busy frantically trying to find him which meant he hadn’t had to worry about throwing himself behind dusty stone support beams.</p><p>His mood was almost brightening up. <em>Almost</em>.</p><p>Until he saw it.</p><p>Atop the rooftop, the single ugliest piece of cloth fluttered flimsily in the wind, hooked onto a curved piece of the structure.</p><p>Other than the occasional times where he’s spotted Osamu and Suna sneaking up on him when he’d been relaxing, there was no indication anyone else knew of this spot. His last guess was Aran but the boy was too smart to litter in a spot where Atsumu calmed himself down.</p><p>Atsumu bit his tongue to prevent himself from cussing, knowing the slightest out of place sound would convince the universe to play a real funny joke on him and get him caught on the rooftop. As silent as he could manage, he stormed over to the damned piece of litter, ready to curse it out of existence for even daring to somehow agitate him more when he was already in a foul mood.</p><p>He gripped the cloth tightly and yanked it over the hook it was caught on, only for it to send Atsumu surging forward and nearly tug him off the tower.</p><p>“What the hell —!” Atsumu’s face scrunched up in agitation as he yanked furiously at the heavy cloth. The cloth yelped and it was only then that the situation dawned on him.</p><p>“I didn’t need saving, Tendou-san!” The cloth wriggled underneath Atsumu’s grasp, confirming his fear and nearly making Atsumu let go of the robe out of pure shock. Atsumu’s mind ran at a pace of a hundred miles a minute, desperately trying to figure out the best course of action that wasn’t him letting go of the robe and hoping he peeked over the ledge in time to cast a spell.</p><p>He winced as he anchored himself around one of the support beams, blunt nails digging into splintered wood.</p><p>“Don’t fuckin’ move, I’m tryna save ya.” He grit out, teeth clenched.</p><p>If Atsumu would have known earlier that he’d have to save someone from falling to their death off the tall as fuck church tower, truthfully, he would have walked in the opposite direction and settled for going to his third favorite rooftop spot.</p><p>The boy kept struggling against Atsumu, forcing him to relinquish his grip in favor of a more angry and fierce one, and at the expense of everything falling out of his pockets, Atsumu was able to successfully drag the boy up a few inches.</p><p>“Stop strugglin’ wouldja,” Atsumu snapped as he tightened his grip on the support beam, at the rate this was going, he wasn’t gonna be surprised if he ended up flying off the rooftop as well.</p><p>His whitening knuckles seemed to mock him.</p><p>“I had it under control, just — ”</p><p>“Yeah, fuckin’ bullshit.” Atsumu sneered, cutting the kid off and yanking the robe up further onto the roof.</p><p>The day was going even worse than he already expected it to. Not only did he get his training cut short because of the shitty weather (his classmates were just wusses scared of lightning), he had also lost dozens of treated arrows (not his fault) when he grabbed the wrong quiver out of spite and was now in deep shit with Ushijima.</p><p>And to top everything off, all of his valuables from his pockets slammed the ground from over two dozen meters up, promising Atsumu that at least a few of his items have definitely cracked or broken on impact.</p><p>All to save a kid stupid enough to slip off the church tower which was rightfully Atsumu’s spot and Atsumu’s spot only.</p><p>His arms burned, and his fingers were starting to feel the pain of getting stabbed with dozens of splinters. Even if Atsumu could drag the boy onto the ledge there was no guarantee the boy would be able to balance himself and not send himself flying back towards the ground. If he really wanted to, he could just let go and hope to catch the boy just in time with a capture spell. Although, that was under the hope he finally managed to perfect it.</p><p>He could —</p><p>“Got it!”</p><p>The boy’s shout was accompanied by a gracious weight taken off of Atsumu’s arms, signalling the idiot finally managed to anchor himself onto a ledge of some sort. He was too pained to care about the filth as he pressed his head to the rooftop, his breath coming out more ragged than expected.</p><p>“Fuckin’ hell, course there was a ledge,” Atsumu breathed, readjusting himself and loosening his manic grip on the splintered wood. His hand was bleeding. He couldn’t give less of a shit.</p><p>“Well yeah, that’s what I was trying to get to in the first place.” The boy responded from the ledge, and while Atsumu couldn’t directly see him, there was a hint of annoyance behind his words.</p><p><em>The bastard</em>.</p><p>“Well ya did a real shit job at it.”</p><p>As he eased himself back in a more comfortable position, Atsumu peered over the ledge, his hand still firmly grabbing the green robe. It took a moment for everything to register, both the height they were at and also the very orange hair which caught Atsumu completely off guard.</p><p>He was sure that if there were villagers with orange hair, he’d have noticed them, yet here the stranger was, with the brightest fucking hair he’s ever seen in his life.</p><p>“Ya should be grateful,” Atsumu spat, taking his eyes away from the mess of orange and settling for staring at the ground, searching for his items. “Ya woulda been a splat if it weren’t for me.”</p><p>The boy didn’t look at him, and Atsumu couldn’t tell if that pissed him off more. At the same moment his lips twitched to say something snarky, the boy responded, tugging at his sleeve which was still in Atsumu’s grasp. He didn’t let go.</p><p>“Thank you and all, but can you let go of my sleeve? I need to get down.”</p><p>Atsumu wasn’t a mean person, if someone asked the right people, they’d just describe him as very emotion driven, rather than plain rude. Really, if he’d have to blame his temper on anything it’d be on the shitshow that happened <em>before</em> having to save the boy from falling. And while he was definitely a dick, (according to everyone who has interacted with him for more than 30 minutes), he was really not a <em>mean</em> person.</p><p>Really.</p><p>But with that said, he really had no excuse for the things which came out of his mouth and escalated the already deescalated situation.</p><p>“Yer fuckin’ annoyin.”</p><p>“I didn’t even need your help!”</p><p>Atsumu blinked, and then to his own surprise let out a laugh before he yanked at the ugly green fabric, pulling it upward until he heard the sounds of seams tearing. “Are ya joking? Cause last time I checked you were danglin’ by this shitty thread <em>this</em> close to fuckin’ fallin’ when you shouldn’t even have been here in the first place.”</p><p>“I wasn’t —”</p><p>“If yer gonna say you didn’t need help, at least say it when ya can back yerself up ‘cause now you look like an idiot. Good luck gettin’ down by yerself, I ain’t helpin’.” With that, Atsumu threw the sleeve aggressively over the ledge. He hoped the kid lapped up all the attention he got from the prince who he managed to piss off in a ten minute time span.</p><p>There wasn’t a response. And while that would have been satisfying, it also produced a significantly high level of stress considering he yelled at a kid dangling on a ledge dozens of feet up and told him to find his own way down.</p><p>His eyes darted back down at the ledge, just in time for his arm to swipe at the boy’s falling frame, fingers just missing his green robe which fluttered after him.</p><p>Atsumu had always been a really crappy person under pressure, his mind always blanked and his panic always overtook any sense of confidence he’d built up. This time was no difference as he shouted a spell incorrectly and the magic weakly fizzled out from his palm.</p><p>Thankfully, none of that mattered this time.</p><p>The boy let out an embarrassingly loud squeak as he was suspended in the air, a thin glow of magic connecting him to Tendou who observed from the treeline. He was laughing.</p><p>“Woah woah! Didn’t expect you to actually leap! You’re scary.” Tendou twirled the boy in the air as he lowered him. Undoubtedly to make him dizzy, Tendou was like that.</p><p>Tendou’s next words were muffled by the chilly wind that tickled Atsumu’s ears. Combined with the significant height difference between the two and the prince, hearing their hushed discussion was practically impossible.</p><p>Atsumu watched as Tendou’s eyes drifted up, and locked with his own.</p><p>If Atsumu didn’t have to retrieve the scatter of items littering the ground the two were standing on, he would’ve just left. He briefly considered shouting down at Tendou, hoping the man would take mercy on his increasingly shitty day, but Atsumu had no gold to bribe him with so at the end of the day, he was out of luck.</p><p>“Might wanna hurry it up Atsumu-kun! Gambling night is coming up, my pay only gets me so far!” As if taunting, Atsumu, he picked up his soothing crystal heirloom and tossed it in the air repeatedly. “At least five pouches of gold worth, what do you think, Shouyou-kun?”</p><p>Atsumu veins ran hot.</p><p>The day was out to get him in loads of trouble if he didn’t maintain his temper, he was sure of it.</p><p>The sky flashed with a strike of lightning, as if in agreement.</p><p>After a painstaking climb down from the roof, Atsumu examined his reddening hand, debating on whether using his magic to sneak attack Tendou would damage it further. It wouldn’t, of course. But Tendou would dodge the attack anyway, and that would only aggravate Atsumu more.</p><p>
  <em>God, he really just needed to grab his things and leave.</em>
</p><p>If it were anyone else catching Atsumu on the rooftop, he’d be getting a lecture and a half. But, fortunately (or unfortunately, he wasn’t sure), Tendou didn’t usually ask questions as long as he got something out of it. In this case, Atsumu was definitely leaving with a lighter pocket.</p><p>Atsumu pulled the crystal out of Tendou’s fingers and ignored the protest the man let out. There was nothing Tendou could say to stop him, there was no way he was giving up his heirloom.</p><p>If he could gather his things fast, he’d be able to leave and cooldown and maybe even sneakily train while there was still some light out. It’d only be light for maybe an hour more, but given the moment and the level of frustration he was at, it’d be enough.</p><p>“My, what’s gotten the prince so riled up?” Tendou cooed, eyes scanning over Atsumu as if trying to decipher his whole day’s worth of trauma based on his appearance. A creepy smirk lit up his face as he pointed at Atsumu’s scratched and bloodied shirt. “Did you lose at a spar?”</p><p>Atsumu’s lips twitched in agitation as he shoved things in his pants pocket with more vigor, glaring at Tendou out of the corner of his eye. “What kinda dumb question is that?”</p><p>“Well, last time you’ve been this cranky Osamu gave you a concussion.”</p><p>This was, without a doubt, going to be the time and place where he lost his temper.</p><p>Atsumu pulled himself off the ground, and sent Tendou a withering look.</p><p>Accepting the fact that Tendou would be the catalyst which would cause him to lose his shit, Atsumu hurriedly began to walk past him, maintaining eye contact which truthfully, made Atsumu more uncomfortable than anything. But of course, like everything else that occurred today, absolutely nothing was going in his favor.</p><p>Atsumu had been so distracted with Tendou he hadn’t paid attention to the boy forcing himself into a very sudden bow right as Atsumu was walking past, colliding their heads with a very alarming ‘thump’.</p><p>If Atsumu didn’t have a concussion earlier, he most definitely had to have one now.</p><p>He contemplated fighting the boy right then and there, releasing all his tension in one swift scuffle that would surely end in Atsumu being severely punished, but one look at the boy and his anger transitioned into heavy confusion.</p><p>The boy was still bent over in an intense bow, his ginger hair looking even messier than before and his forehead, from what Atsumu could see from his angle, was reddening fast. “Crap! Crap, Tendou you didn’t say anything about me yelling at the prince. I’m so sorry!”</p><p>Atsumu scowled at the shouts. Honestly, he should be used to all the special treatment that came with being a prince, but when half the kingdom ignored his status anyway, the behavior almost seemed mocking.</p><p>“Shouyou-kun, stand up straight he’s not in the best mo —”</p><p>Atsumu reached out his hand and smacked Shouyou’s head, his fingers lingering above the mess of orange for a second longer as he debated whether or not to hit the kid again, just because. He decided not to, and retracted his hand, briefly regretting his decision once the kid looked up and the burst of annoyance returned. “Get up.”</p><p>Shouyou straightened up so quickly Atsumu was surprised he didn’t get a headrush. His forehead was taking on a concerning shade of rose, but the dull ache in Atsumu’s own skull reminded him he wasn’t fairing that much better.</p><p>He thought of the comments that were sure to spew out of Suna’s mouth once he saw the deep bruise which was sure to plant itself on Atsumu’s forehead and winced. This day was shaping up to be the worst Atsumu has experienced in months, even surpassing the time he knocked himself out cold when sparring with Aran.</p><p>Shouyou made a sound, snapping Atsumu out of his self pity. His brown eyes gazed at Atsumu apologetically with a mixture of fear, probably because he had hit him.</p><p>Fair enough.</p><p>Right now, all Atsumu cared about was getting as far away from the two as possible. In a few hours, he’d think back on this experience and maybe laugh while feeling kinda bad for hitting the boy.</p><p>“Sorry for your hand,” Shouyou said and pointed at Atsumu’s palm hesitantly. A smear of blood stained it pink and looking at it only made the stinging pain come back. “And uhm, for tearing your shirt.”</p><p>
  <em>He took it back, he was not going to feel bad.</em>
</p><p>“You don’t hafta apologize,” Atsumu snapped, hiding his hand from Shouyou’s view, even though the boy already saw the blood. Atsumu took a step back, readying to dismiss himself from the interaction as soon as possible. “I don’t even know ya, and I don’t like ya, so yer apology means nothin’.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>Now, it wasn’t as if Shouyou’s response offended him. He had wanted to end the whole ordeal quickly and the conversation was just about finished given his response. However, ending on a note that was so obviously meant to provoke him didn’t settle right for him either.</p><p>While he didn’t exactly live up to his prince role, Atsumu still never expected for someone to treat him so lightheartedly. He was a prince when he chose to be, and princes most definitely did not get insulted by villagers they’ve never even seen.</p><p>He took a few steps forward until he was standing in front of Shouyou. The air around him turned cold, but there was no breeze near the ground. “Now why’d ya sound so smug?”</p><p>Shouyou tilted his head in thought, as though he were pondering the answer to Atsumu’s question. There was a second of prolonged staring before Hinata looked back at Atsumu, ready with his answer. “Well, I just met you. And you’re kinda a jerk, so it doesn’t really mean much.”</p><p>Atsumu let out an offended breath of air.</p><p>It was all he could do because right about now he was torn between acting offended because a villager didn’t like him, which was so incredibly lame, or letting Shouyou get away with his blunt statement. Either way, both options sucked.</p><p>So he stepped back again, and walked away, brushing past Shouyou and maintaining enough self control to not shoulder check him as he passed. At the rate the day was going, the only time Atsumu would catch a break would be in the comfort of his own room. He’d be fine as soon as he climbed into his bed and slept away his anger and frustration from the damned day.</p><p>(<em>This was absolutely the biggest lie Atsumu ever tried to convince himself to believe. He had long accepted his awful tendency to stay in his shitty moods even after a good rest. This mood was going to last and last until Atsumu swallowed his own pride and let everything go. Which he wouldn’t do for at least a week, he knew that much.)</em></p><p>“I’m headin’ out.” Atsumu offered a half assed wave to Tendou, not even bothering to look back.</p><p>Tendou cleared his throat.</p><p>Atsumu stopped in his tracks and turned around, barely realizing Tendou had been trying to get his attention for the last couple seconds. But more importantly, it was what Tendou had been trying to get his attention with that was the problem.</p><p>“Aren’t you forgetting something, Atsumu-kun?” Tendou practically hummed, flipping Atsumu’s engraved charm up like a gold coin, and narrowly missing the burst of malevolent magic Atsumu directed at him.</p><p>“Give it back, Tendou-san. I ain’t in the mood.” Atsumu grit his teeth, fully prepared to bombard Tendou with a series of hexes in hopes the man dropped the charm in the chaos.</p><p>“Atsumu-kun, has anyone ever taught you to be kinder to your elders?” Tendou’s grin was wide and toothy, smug.</p><p>“Yer not who they mean when they say that,” Atsumu said, irritated. “I’ll give ya gold later, just give it.”</p><p>Tendou flipped the charm again, this time catching it and holding it up as if trying to determine its worth. Atsumu felt his face twist in anger, but he stayed where he was, waiting for the offer that was gonna come out of Tendou’s mouth, which did, a second later, “Come to Wakatoshi-kun’s dinner with us.”</p><p>It was enough to catch Atsumu completely off guard. Usually there was never any way to predict what was gonna come out of Tendou’s mouth, less so when he was in his bribery moods, but Atsumu hadn’t expected that at all. He never spent time with Ushijima, and not just because he was slightly intimidated by him.</p><p>It was because he had the innate talent of pissing him off.</p><p>“Ya can’t be serious!” Atsumu spluttered, eyes flickering between Tendou and Shouyou in hopes the kid could, at the very least, back him up. “I even offered gold and everythin’. Ya even said you were broke!”</p><p>Tendou’s eyes squinted. His glare stung Atsumu, not literally, of course, but Tendou had definitely wished it had. “Thanks, but I’d prefer this. Tell you what, I’ll even be kind and only mention the arrow incident twice.”</p><p>Atsumu sucked in a breath, he was trapped. Pinned between Tendou’s expecting stare and just turning tail and leaving his charm in Tendou’s long freaky hands. “You can just keep it, I’ll get it in the mornin’.” Atsumu’s fists tightened into balls, pain be damned. He turned on his heels, and walked away.</p><p>The next ten seconds were a blur, partly due to Atsumu being too lost in his own pool of regret, to notice Suna run out from the trees, heaving from his sprint. But mostly due to Atsumu’s urge to turn around overtaking him right as Suna reached for his head, ducking them both down to a crouch as Suna’s grip tightened around Atsumu in a suspiciously violent headlock.</p><p>“Ah, Suna! —Wha —What the fuck?” Atsumu struggled against Suna’s hold, pinching at whatever parts of Suna he could grab to get him to ease the ever tightening chokehold.</p><p>Suna hushed him, voice low. “Shut up, Kita’s half a step away from killing me ‘cause of you,” he growled and looked up at Tendou before tensing. “Ushijima-san said it’d be another hour.”</p><p>Atsumu resisted the urge to laugh at how awkward Suna sounded. Even he was scared of Tendou after all these years.</p><p>“An hour? Does he need help with cooking?” Tendou’s voice was softer now, a phenomenon that only happened whenever he talked about Ushijima.</p><p>“Er, no, he didn’t —”</p><p>Tendou’s hands raised up so quickly he almost lost grip of the charm. “Ah, sorry, sorry, he’d never say he needs help but did it look like it?” The charm balanced weakly between his forefinger and thumb, and Atsumu was sure that if Suna wasn’t pinning him, he’d most definitely be able to snatch it.</p><p>Suna tilted his head to think, his grip loosening just enough to allow Atsumu to push him off, and scoot a few paces away for good measure. “There were a lot of vegetables that needed cutting, but Osamu said he’d stay and help.”</p><p>A flash of a smile appeared on Tendou’s face and Atsumu felt the overwhelming urge to run to his corridors and maybe even drag Suna with him if he could keep up.</p><p>Unfortunately for both of them Tendou easily recognized the opportunity to make it Atsumu’s own personal hell and take down Suna while he was at it. “Sunarin, mind sharing with the class why you’re so out of breath?”</p><p>Tendou’s voice took on a nasally tone, it sounded awfully like he was trying to mimic a teacher, but Atsumu wasn’t sure. He was never sure with Tendou.</p><p>Atsumu shook his head, willing Suna to look his way. He wondered if there was a way he could get Suna to read his mind just so he could get, <em>don’t you dare answer him he’s gonna fuck us both over you know he will and if he does I know where you sleep, across to him</em>, he even focused really hard, just in case.</p><p>The sky crackled again, a metaphoric representation of his heart splitting in two as Suna answered Tendou, confirming the fact that Suna really wasn’t psychic. Atsumu wished for the first time that he would’ve just sucked it up and stayed doing paperwork, because this, this was so much worse.</p><p>“Kita’s looking for Atsumu, and he would’ve stopped me if he saw me so I took the trail instead.” Suna said, eyes narrowing at Atsumu. “Do you always gotta put everyone in a shitty mood?” It was rhetorical. Suna knew the answer.</p><p>Tendou relaxed his shoulders and brought a cupped hand to his mouth, making direct eye contact with Atsumu as he let out a hoot, undoubtedly to get Kita’s attention. To make things worse, the loud noise did seem to be a calling of some sort, but not for Kita.</p><p>“Welcome back,” Shouyou said, extending his arm just enough for the crow that Tendou summoned to perch itself on. The crow shot him a glance, and ruffled its feathers, to Atsumu’s horror, in the exact same way the bird from earlier did. The memory of its talons digging into Atsumu’s skin made him take an instinctive scoot back.</p><p>“Something wrong, Atsumu-kun?” Tendou said, hand still cupped around his mouth.</p><p>Atsumu knew exactly what was coming next. There was no denying it and no preventing it and unless the universe finally had mercy on him and struck down Tendou, Atsumu was gonna have to deal with Kita for the next miserable two weeks.</p><p>But, to his own surprise, Atsumu watched as Tendou relaxed his arms and stared at him, lost in thought.</p><p>“Well c’mon then, the vegetables won’t cut themselves,” Tendou flipped the charm and sent it in a dizzying spiral onto Atsumu’s lap. A complaint died on Atsumu’s lips as he stared at the charm, half expecting it to vanish out of his grasp. It didn’t.</p><p>“D’you think we’re really gonna have to wait an hour?” Shoyou muttered, following Tendou and Suna as they walked onto the trail. He was grabbing at his stomach which let out a loud grumble.</p><p>Tendou ignored him and stopped in his tracks, “Atsumu-kun, if you don’t get up and follow I’m calling Kita over.”</p><p>Atsumu groaned, but gathered himself to his feet, following a few paces after the trio.</p><p>The trail was a lot more overgrown than he remembered. Every so often, he’d find his foot caught on an exposed root and would surge forward into Suna’s back, nearly toppling them both into the shrubs. And while the walk should’ve been short, it took the group at least twenty minutes to finally reach the clearing.</p><p>Ushijima’s cottage was only ten minutes down the trail, located in a meadow that had the most promising soil for his fruit trees, whatever that meant. It was small, compared to the other buildings within the castle walls, and Atsumu figured it looked more like a small villager home than one that belonged to one of the best knights in the kingdom.</p><p>“We’re here!” Shouyou cheered, the crow was now balanced on his head and Atsumu hoped to god he didn’t actually intend to bring the bird inside. “Alright, hop off.”</p><p>The bird listened, fluttering off into one of Ushijima’s apricot trees.</p><p><em>One less reason to wanna fight him</em>, Atsumu thought bitterly. If Shouyou had legitimately tried to bring the bird inside, Atsumu would have called Kita over himself.</p><p>The inside of Ushijima’s cottage was a lot more spacious than the outside made it seem, with a few seasonal plants decorating countertops and ceiling hooks. Atsumu tried to think of something remotely intimidating about the cottage, to save face that it belonged to the single person who Atsumu would admit he was afraid of, but there was nothing except potted plants.</p><p>Every night, before going to bed, Atsumu would be reminded of the fact he’s had nightmares about someone who lives in a cottage with potted plants labeled with their names and potting dates.</p><p>“Took ya long enough, thought I’d hafta chop the carrots myself.” Osamu balanced a basket on a wooden stool and stepped into the doorway. He wasn’t a messy cook, but for some reason he had flour dusted on his cheek and parts of his hair.</p><p>“Did you pick all the carrots in the field?” Tendou asked, staring wide eyed at the woven basket which was filled to the brim with carrots. “Are you sure he isn’t making carrot stew?”</p><p>Suna shook his head. “He said it was a roast.”</p><p>“For the <em>village</em>?”</p><p>“Tendou-san, Ushijima-san could probably eat all that and still be hungry.” Hinata interrupted. He had a point, Ushijima was huge.</p><p>Osamu swiveled his head to stare at Atsumu, his arm stretched out from where he stood and pointed at the front of Atsumu’s shirt. “The fuck happened to you?”</p><p>“None of yer business.” His arms crossed over his chest, doing little to hide any of the torn material. “Ain’t you supposed to be chopping carrots?”</p><p>Osamu opened his mouth to argue, but ultimately said nothing. He fished around in his pocket for a second before pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper.</p><p>“Here’s the recipe for the cake he wanted to make, as long as it ain’t ‘Sumu crackin’ the eggs I don’t care who bakes it.” With that, he beckoned over Suna to help with the carrots as Tendou took up the task of finding Ushijima who was skewering meat in the back of the cottage.</p><p>That left Atsumu with the one person he couldn’t stand.</p><p>As if on cue, Shouyou cleared his throat from beside him. Atsumu didn’t look at him.</p><p>“I could, uhm, crack the eggs if you need me to.” Shouyou walked over to the stool where Osamu placed the recipe and looked it over. Atsumu watched as his tongue poked out while he concentrated. He looked dumb. “I’ve actually made cakes loads of times so...if you don’t want to help I won’t really mind!”</p><p>Atsumu has heard the same thing from Osamu plenty of times, the fact was Atsumu was shit at cooking, and just about anyone who has ever seen him try to make something knew that. But coming out of Shouyou’s mouth, as passive as it was, just seemed like a challenge.</p><p>Atsumu walked into the kitchen wordlessly and threw on an apron Osamu left on one of the counters. There was only one, and he would be damned if he wasn’t the one to get to wear it. He stopped tying his apron and looked at Shouyou, face neutral. “I’ll help.”</p><p>“Do you know how to make a cake?” Shouyou walked into the kitchen, still holding the recipe.</p><p>Atsumu sent him a glare. “‘Samu left us a recipe, didn’t he?”</p><p>“Well, yeah but—”</p><p>“Then I know how to make it.” Atsumu declared, already annoyed.</p><p>Hinata sighed. “That’s not what I mea—”</p><p>“Are you gonna crack the eggs or keep blabberin’?” Atsumu gathered bowls and fancy looking tools and tossed them haphazardly onto the countertop. He didn’t know what half of them did but they looked important.</p><p>After a few minutes, Atsumu observed the assortment of different pots and pans he took out on the counter, and decided that no matter what the recipe decided to call for, he was prepared. “Ushijima has so much shit, who woulda thought he was the bakin’ type, huh? Anyways, pass the recipe.”</p><p>There wasn’t any answer.</p><p>“Shouyou, where’s the damn recipe?” He repeated, this time more firm, just in case the boy was hard of hearing. When there wasn’t any response, Atsumu turned around.</p><p>The redhead was shuffling back into the kitchen, his face a little pink. “I couldn’t read it. I went to—I went to ask Osamu about it but I don’t know where he went.” He sounded out of breath, probably from rushing around the cottage.</p><p>“You couldn’t read it?” It sounded more like a statement than a question. “Lemme see.”</p><p>Shouyou handed over the list hesitantly. Atsumu pretended not to notice.</p><p>The writing was, predictably, horrid. Confusing scribbles littered the page and the measurements looked more like doodles rather than legible numbers. Atsumu knew his brother had shitty writing, made fun of him every time they were locked in the study, but this, this looked worse than anything he’s ever seen. It was chicken scratch.</p><p><em>“Jesus Christ,” </em>Atsumu said, squinting at the paper as if that would suddenly make the words readable. It was no use. He doubted even Osamu would be able to read it.</p><p>“Well what do we do?” Shouyou asked. He was putting half of the pots Atsumu took out back in their cabinets.</p><p>Atsumu placed his hands on his hips. “We obviously gotta wing it. If ‘Samu gave us a shitty recipe that’s his fault, I ain’t gonna ask him for help when he has a knife in his hand. The asshole would probably chuck it at my head.”</p><p>Shouyou snorted, clearly thinking Atsumu was exaggerating when he was in fact, completely serious.</p><p>“I’ve made this cake before so I kinda remember how it goes…” he trailed, watching as Atsumu gathered about every edible ingredient from the fridge that could fit in a cake. “What’re you doing?”</p><p>Atsumu looked at him, already whisking things in a bowl. “Bakin’, now are you gonna crack the eggs or what?”</p><p>Shouyou stifled a laugh, hidden behind a torn sleeve, and started cracking.</p><p>Around an hour later, Atsumu was reminded of the fact his lack of skill when it came to cooking also crossed into baking as well, as he pulled out a caved in mess from the stone oven. The strawberries he added earlier did little to mask how inedible the cake looked and instead created the biggest pink stain on the top of the cake. The smell of a freshly baked cake swelled throughout the cottage, and Atsumu was grateful when he didn’t have to lie to himself about it smelling good.</p><p>Shouyou perched it on an iron rack, the top of the cake caving in even more as it was jostled. He sent a questioning look to Atsumu, taking off his oven mitts and hanging them on a metal hook. He turned to face Atsumu slowly, cringing. “I think we messed up.”</p><p>Atsumu sent him a disheartened glance and stared at the baked abomination. It looked as if it were seconds away from bubbling. He told himself it wasn’t that bad, and really, it could’ve been worse. “Looks nasty, probably tastes fine.” <em>A lie</em>.</p><p>By the time Atsumu took off his apron, his white shirt was stained with blood from the bird scratches that seeped through the fabric, the blood was dried but it did little to help his presentation.</p><p>“Holy crap, did you really cut yourself that much on the roof?!” Hinata yelled as he rushed over to Atsumu, examining the torn fabric with a cautious sort of fascination. “I didn’t see any loose nails when I sat there, so you must have some really crappy luck.”</p><p>A twinge of irritation hit him as he cocked an eyebrow, willing himself to keep his temper level. “Somethin’ like that,” Atsumu grumbled, already retying the apron around his waist. The last thing he needed was Ushijima to question what the hell happened to his clothes.</p><p>Atsumu intended to leave this dinner as quick as possible, and absolutely nothing was standing in his way.</p><p>“Do you need to borrow a shirt?” Shouyou was staring at him.</p><p>He stared back.</p><p>The awkwardness behind the exchange was entirely Atsumu’s fault, because truthfully, yes, yes he did want to borrow a shirt but admitting he needed help was beyond his vocabulary. Atsumu had already decided he hated Shouyou five seconds into preventing his death, and he wasn’t about to backtrack. However, Kita had taught Atsumu to, at the very least, behave when people offered help so with that advice in mind, Atsumu figured accepting the offer would be him finally listening to Kita’s advice. Nothing more, nothing less.</p><p>“Yes,” Atsumu said, pulling off the apron again.</p><p>Shouyou nodded and disappeared behind a door near the exit of the kitchen. He wasn’t gone for more than a minute before he reemerged, a crisp black long sleeve shirt in his hands. Atsumu put it on and was working on the buttons by the time Osamu walked into the kitchen.</p><p>“Where’s the cake?” Osamu asked, nudging past his brother and peering into the empty stone oven. He turned his attention to Atsumu, then to Shouyou before he decided to question the redhead who slotted himself perfectly between the cake and Osamu.</p><p>“We were gonna frost it!” Shouyou chirped as he leaned back on his elbows, strategically feigning nonchalance. If Atsumu didn’t know any better, he’d have believed him too. At Shouyou’s response, Osamu seemed to perk up.</p><p>“Is that gonna take much longer?”</p><p>Shouyou shook his head. “The frosting is already made. It should only take maybe…” He trailed off and looked at Atsumu who flashed him ten fingers, “maybe ten minutes.”</p><p>“The table’s already set, so we’ll be waitin’.” Osamu turned and blinked at his brother. His face was softer than usual, and a ghost of a smile lingered on his lips until his expression promptly soured, his gaze dropping to Atsumu’s change of clothes. He walked away without saying anything.</p><p>When he was out of view, Atsumu looked over his shirt, and sure enough his buttons were crooked. He hurriedly fixed them, but to his own embarrassment, Shouyou was already smiling. “You didn’t say anything?”</p><p>“Your brother was already in the kitchen by the time I realized.” Shouyou lifted himself off the counter and nearly swiped the cake clean off the cooling rack. There was a strange flash of emotion across his face before he brought two hands to his head, gently tugging at his hair.</p><p>“Holy crap! That was so nerve wracking he’s —” Shouyou’s eyes went wide, “he’s not gonna to send me to the dungeons for lying, right?”</p><p>Atsumu weighed his options for a second.</p><p>“Nah.” He pushed Hinata away gently as he reached for the cake. “When you get ‘Samu really mad he skips the dungeons and goes straight to choppin’ yer head off.”</p><p>He pretended not to choke back a laugh as he watched Shouyou’s face turn pale.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>The cake still looked as inedible as it did before, except this time it had a thin coat of cracked chocolate layered on top of it. It had taken around five minutes for them to come to terms with the fact the only ‘frosting’ they had was leftover chocolate that was stowed away in the fridge.<br/>
And despite their (Shouyou’s) best efforts, the cake looked mediocre at best.</p><p>Ushijima and Tendou skipped out on dessert, favoring to go inside and wash the dishes the baking duo had left out.</p><p>Suna looked up at him from across the table, his fork frozen in mid air as he held up a plate with a very crookedly cut slice of cake. Next to him, Osamu made the same expression. Two peas in a miserable pod.</p><p>“You both know I can’t bake so I don’t know why you guys look so upset,” Atsumu said, pushing away his empty roast plate. “I tried my best with yer crappy handwriting, ‘Samu.”</p><p>Osamu scoffed. “Even if you could read it you’d still confuse salt for sugar.”</p><p>Atsumu didn’t say anything. Not because he was thinking of a comeback, he had none, but because Osamu had figured him out without even taking a single bite. If it hadn’t been for Shouyou shoving the salt container out of his hand, he would have kept pouring, because as bad as his observational skills were, his measurement skills were worse.</p><p>Osamu must’ve caught on because he was practically gleaming. And worse, Suna glanced at Shouyou just as the boy popped a steamed carrot in his mouth, undoubtedly to avoid questioning. What Atsumu didn’t say, Shouyou basically confirmed with his body language.</p><p>Atsumu felt his cheeks heat up.</p><p>“‘Samu, did you really?” Osamu was snickering now, prodding at the cake as if it would crumble into a pile of salt at any second.</p><p>Atsumu pushed out of his seat, and leaned across the table just enough to snatch Osamu’s plate. “Fine, if ya ain’t gonna eat it then I will.” He sat back down with a little too much vigor and nearly sent himself flying back in his chair, much to Suna’s amusement. Shouyou was still chewing his carrot, and Atsumu had half a mind to insult him, just because he could.</p><p>If Ushijima was outside, he’d have already been sent to Kita for his behavior, but he wasn’t and Atsumu was taking full advantage of it as he rocked back just enough to send a jinx his brother’s way.</p><p>It almost landed. Atsumu wouldn’t have known what to do if it did. Probably would have had to deal with a lecture from Ushijima about the harmful effects of intention-set jinxes.</p><p>But contrary to popular belief, Osamu wasn’t Atsumu’s calm and level headed counterpart. He just had a better way of hiding it, proven by his immediate reaction of sending a hex which disguised itself as a mirage of a small bird.</p><p>Atsumu knew better. The last time he had fallen for that one he had been spewing up feathers for a week and even found a few growing near his shoulder blades. Osamu may seem like the nicer twin, but at the end of the day that was all it was, because the only person to be able to match Atsumu in both strength and mischief, was his brother.</p><p>Suna, used to this by now, casted a protection spell around himself, fully aware of the high chance that he’d end up at the receiving end of a rogue hex. Atsumu knew better than to try to break the spell, he had once, and the retaliation was never worth the smug satisfaction.</p><p>Shouyou, on the other hand, watched with amusement as he ate his carrot, nowhere near concerned that he’d end up jinxed. If he wasn’t busy dodging spells from across the table, Atsumu might have asked him about it.</p><p>The sweltering heat of a spell tickled his throat just in time for him to turn and face a conjured up crow inches away from nipping at his neck. It’s eyes were glowing red, a nod to Osamu’s emotions which were undoubtedly angered, pissed. “Ya ain’t as skilled as you say you are, ‘Sumu.”</p><p>Ah, it wasn’t just about the cake then.</p><p>A few seconds dragged on before the pressure was released, a bright blue magic distracting Osamu just enough for him to break the spell. The magic disappeared as quickly as it came but it gave Atsumu enough leeway to restrict his brother with a spell and force him into his seat.</p><p>Right as he was about to say something, a turning of a doorknob signaled the four of their surroundings.</p><p>Atsumu turned to look over his shoulder at Tendou who swayed in, wrapped candies in his palm.</p><p>“Chocolates.” Tendou said cheerfully and tossed the candies at them, each landing with a gentle ‘plop’ on the massacred table. He didn’t seem to care about the destruction of tipped glasses and overturned plates. Or maybe he just didn’t notice.</p><p>Ushijima followed after Tendou, and Atsumu couldn’t tell if his face was neutral or if he also overlooked the splatter of dishes across the dining table.</p><p>“Do you like chocolates?” Ushijima asked, his tone was level. “The cake looked like it could make you sick.”</p><p>Atsumu was reminded of the cake that lay flopped over on the table. It collapsed in on itself and little chips of broken chocolate laid around it. With a defeated sigh, he unwrapped the candy, and looked between his brother’s disheveled appearance and Shouyou’s chewing face.</p><p>He plopped the whole thing in his mouth.</p><p>The chocolate tasted bittersweet.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>A few days after the dinner, it still hadn’t rained.</p><p>But despite this, the guards still stood in front of the sparring area as if it would attract lightning at any second if the princes stood in it. Osamu didn’t seem to mind as much as he should, opting to spend the day helping the maids cook supper for the royal court.</p><p>“I can feel ya staring.”</p><p>Atsumu blinked.</p><p>Osamu fondled with his crown a few feet away from him, eyeing Atsumu through the mirror he stood in front of. His black hair poked out in weird angles. Atsumu didn’t mention it.</p><p>“D’ya think Aran told the knights where I was?” Atsumu asked, a little solemnly.</p><p>Atsumu doubted Aran had been the one to yap about him sneaking out to train. After years of knowing him, he almost felt guilty even thinking about the possibility. He was Atsumu’s friend (only friend) first and a knight second, but something about the situation didn’t make much sense.</p><p>He had taken one measly step into the training area before he had been bombarded with knights rushing over and dragging him back to his chambers. And although the knights had gotten specific orders to do so, it didn’t make Atsumu any less peeved.</p><p>He rolled his head back onto his pillow, wrapped it around his head, and let out a frustrated groan.</p><p>“You were just loud as hell when you snuck out,” Osamu said, “I’m sure even Kita knew what you were doin’.”</p><p>Atsumu couldn’t tell if Osamu was mad about their lockdown or if he was just yearning to see Atsumu’s absolute misery. He was obnoxiously calm.</p><p>“I wouldn’t have had to sneak out if ya would’ve just sucked it up and took my damn offer.” Atsumu grumbled from under the weight of the pillow.</p><p>[<em>When Atsumu was twelve, he conducted a science experiment he’d call: Getting ‘Samu to Stop Being Mean, later retitled to, ‘Getting ‘Samu to Stop Listening to Suna.’ It took about three weeks, a handful of rejections and a punch to the jaw, but he discovered the way to get his brother to agree to his plans was simply to do it when they were both alone — or whenever Suna was out of earshot.</em></p><p>
  <em>Which is exactly why he proposed his idea this morning, alone in their room, and breakfast in hand because the key way to Osamu’s sympathy was through his bottomless pit of a stomach. Except, a minor mishap (he dropped the tray in the doorway) only set his brother to be in a shitty mood, and by default he responded to Atsumu’s proposal to combat train in their study with, “Yer a piece of shit.”]</em>
</p><p>There was a gentle thud, and for a second, Atsumu believed Osamu fell over. He poked his head out from under the pillow and watched as an arm lunged out from the mirror, swiping aimlessly at Osamu who stood a few feet away, looking pale.</p><p>If Atsumu didn’t know any better, he would probably share Osamu’s expression, but after knowing Suna for years and being at the brunt of his pranks, he knew exactly what was happening.</p><p>Atsumu figured Osamu would be used to Suna’s mirror tricks by now, but judging by the way magic weakly fluttered from his palm in panic, he doubted his brother would ever get used to it.</p><p>In his astral state, the quickest form of travel was by mirrors because according to Suna, in a long spiel he gave which Atsumu only half listened to, mirrors had direct ties to the spirit world and therefore, let him transport himself without casting a single spell.</p><p>Suna climbed through the mirror, and patted down his dull clothes. He was almost transparent, save for the wispy light blue glow that surrounded him. He looked about as unnatural as a ghost.</p><p>Suna looked like he was frowning.</p><p>“You didn’t have to jump so far,” Suna sighed. “I told you I’d come over.” Atsumu watched as Suna squinted at Osamu’s crown which sat crookedly on his head.</p><p>“I expected ya to come through the door, not the mirror!” Osamu must’ve caught on to Suna’s stare because he started messing with his crown. “Gave me a damn heart attack.”</p><p>“The cooks said they’d start prep soon, you were taking too—,” Suna paused and pointed to Osamu’s hair, ” your crown is still crooked.”</p><p>Atsumu felt a wave of disappointment roll over him, making him acutely aware of the fact that Osamu had chosen cooking over training with him.</p><p>It wasn’t unexpected, per se, but it still stung a bit when it was brought up a few feet away. As the two continued the conversation, Atsumu doubted they even remembered his presence as they filtered out of the room without saying bye.</p><p>Osamu, in all their years of fighting, had never been mad at him for more than a day. No matter how bad the fight was, or how brutal the hex, at the end of the day the twins would find themselves reconciling over inside jokes or entertaining quips.</p><p>Only this time, it felt different.</p><p>There wasn’t a joke he could make that would heal their bond. Instead, the only thing Atsumu knew that would for sure fix the mess he found himself in, was an apology. He wasn’t quite ready to say it though, too prideful. And so, he settled to wait it out.</p><p>He tossed the pillow off of his head and watched as it tumbled out of view.</p><p>Atsumu looked outside the window from his place on the bed, and watched as the light trickled in occasionally from between the heavy clouds. If everyone in the kingdom had an ounce of sense, they’d recognize the fact it wasn’t gonna rain soon. If at all.</p><p>He gazed outside long enough to watch a leaf pinpoint itself between the gaps of a cracked fox statue just outside his window. It fluttered in the wind a little, but it stayed put. His gaze dropped down to the quiver of arrows that gently bristled from the draft, catching his attention for a second too long.</p><p>He pushed himself off the bed, wary of the fact his head still ached from the hit he took yesterday, and he looked in the mirror for good measure. It was a bit swollen and a nasty shade of rose, and if he cared enough he should probably visit Shirabu to make sure he didn’t get a concussion.</p><p>Atsumu turned away from the mirror, and walked over to the quiver. It was Osamu’s, less worn than Atsumu’s quiver yet it did its job the same. He picked it up slowly, careful to not drop any of the arrows and pushed open his window, the breeze assaulting his face with an unwelcome chill.</p><p>Sneaking out hadn’t been his intention. But as he gently footed his way onto the roof, the thrill of it was far too enticing to let up.</p><p>When he first started sneaking around, Atsumu had been cautious to avoid any and all stares under the assumption they would lead him to get sent back to his chambers. However, as he grew, he learned that the knights usually didn’t mind where he was heading as long as it wasn’t somewhere dangerous enough to get him killed. The first time they caught him on the roof, he had been caught in a restraining spell and got thrown in a portal that led directly to Kita’s study. He knew better now.</p><p>He knew better than to sneak around the castle and find an area to solo train when everyone was on an overexaggerated high alert.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>And yet, he did it anyway.</p><p>He regretted his decision as soon as he stepped foot onto the path that led to his destination, a quiet little meadow which was used for combat training for the younger kids in the castle. It was undoubtedly empty and his best bet to get any training time in, but as he stared at the trees, he debated whether or not to turn back.</p><p>Because in front of him, a crow perched itself on a branch he had to walk under and he had the silliest little inkling that it’d start squawking as soon as he’d pass, alerting knights who’d toss him off the church tower if they could.</p><p>It wasn’t as if he believed every crow he encountered now was the same damned one from the rooftop, but he had only seen a handful of crows in the kingdom until lately so his assumption was justified.</p><p>Almost as if it read his thoughts, the creature let out an experimental caw.</p><p>A flicker of annoyance dashed through Atsumu’s body, reminding him of the vendetta he had against birds, more specifically, crows.</p><p>He wasn’t going to let the crow have its way again. It had gotten lucky the first time. But, that’s all it was, luck.</p><p>This time Atsumu had his bow, and enough anger to push enhancements into each shot, fully prepared to enact his revenge no matter how petty. He hadn’t seen crows in the castle for years, and he intended to keep it that way.</p><p>Crouching down into the grass, he pulled his bow towards the front before readying it with an arrow, the tip glistening with a red, angry magic. In the branch, the crow cawed even louder and ruffled its feathers at him, as if it knew it was making him mad for just existing.</p><p>Atsumu released the arrow and let out an irate huff when it barely missed his target.</p><p>The crow flew off into another branch. It was deeper in the treeline now, which wouldn’t be a problem if Atsumu didn’t need to walk the exact way the crow kept landing. The incident repeated itself two more times, each convincing Atsumu all the more to send a trajected hex and deal with the repercussions later.</p><p>Atsumu glared. “Yer a real pain in the ass, huh?” His voice was angrier now. More frustrated.</p><p>A part of him knew that hitting the bird with an arrow wouldn’t solve any of his problems. He was still in a giant fucking mess with his brother. And still slightly pissed, because Osamu decided to let himself come up short, and blow up the egos of the half assed calvary-in-training. Atsumu hadn’t expected to see his brother lose. People lost sometimes in sparring. But no one lost intentionally, except Osamu, who sent him a glare before forfeiting the spar and taking their argument from earlier in the day to new heights.</p><p>It wasn’t a big deal until it was. If Atsumu had just kept his mouth from spewing the insults at his brother before the duel, maybe they would be better off than they currently were. But no matter how much he’d grit his teeth and bite his tongue, the words were bound to slip out of his mouth like a dastardly poison. Arguments between the twins were nothing, but this one, it wasn’t a normal one. And that made all the difference.</p><p>He readied his bow again, fingertips aching to make the final shot and shut up the roaring frustrations in his head. There was a split-second, blink and you miss it, movement out of the corner of his eye which made him release the arrow and send it in a lame arch which barely reached higher than the lowest branch on the tree.</p><p>It was then when Atsumu realized he had settled himself just outside the meadow he meant to walk to.</p><p>Nobody ever trained when it was overcast, and the whole kingdom waited with bated breath for a storm. Nobody except Atsumu who watched with his mouth agape as Shouyou surged blow after blow into the cursed training dummies standing around.</p><p>“Shit,” Atsumu breathed as he glanced around, admiring the destruction which had at least 15 cursed training dummies flopped over, well defeated. He moved an inch forward, careful not to alert the boy of his presence lest it throw him off. Was it a little creepy to watch from behind bushes at a kid you hate pummels training dummies left and right? Probably. He made no effort to leave despite it.</p><p>This was the biggest plot twist he’d ever witnessed.</p><p>The crow cawed at Atsumu again, who in return sent a muting spell directly at it. He didn’t even look to see if it landed, too focused on the way Shouyou tooled the dummies before pounding them into the dirt. If this had been the way they had met, Atsumu would probably have befriended him.</p><p>He snuck a peek at the spells Shouyou was casting. They were strong enough to knock out all his opponents in swift blows but contained enough to barely flicker in his palm.</p><p>He watched as Shouyou’s hands curled around his sword and jutted it out in time to knock out one of the particularly difficult training dummies. His movements were fast, wild. But the thing that Atsumu noticed the most was Hinata looked genuinely happy to be there, and it made Atsumu’s stomach churn in a weird indigestion kinda way. His offense looked about as sharpened as Osamu’s, and his fingers twitched with the sneaking urge to test the theory.</p><p>Maybe he had finally found a training partn—</p><p>He should probably find a way to leave.</p><p>This was quickly spiraling into Atsumu going back on his self declared hatred towards Shouyou which would lead to him doing something embarrassing like talk to him — or even worse, train with him. And while going back on his feelings wouldn’t really be important considering the only person who would have picked up on his resentment was Osamu, whose maybe said ten non-threatening sentences to him since their argument, he felt like it’d be lame to change his mind after two minutes of observing.</p><p>Casting a final look back at Shouyou as he made his way back down the path, he figured the meadow would be free to train in the next day. Under the assumption Shouyou wouldn’t come back and it was a one time thing.</p><p>Only, when he walked back down the path for the second time the morning after, Atsumu watched as Shouyou fought the training dummies even harder, slamming dozens of them to the ground in quick succession. Atsumu expected to get mad after having his training time cut two days in a row to some boy he hated.</p><p>He didn’t.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>The meadow was empty on the third day Atsumu went to check it. Which really wasn’t a problem, he could finally cram in training he’d skipped out on because Shouyou didn’t take up all the space in the undersized training area.</p><p>Just in case, Atsumu waited by the tree line for fifteen minutes longer than he intended to, wrapping his hands in a protective layer of bandage, that he never bothered to do before.</p><p>It’s not as if he was expecting Shouyou to come and train in the meadow every day—if that were the case, Atsumu would have already challenged him to a duel of sorts and claimed the training area as his own. He didn’t like sharing, but for some god awful reason, Shouyou piqued his interest just enough to where he looked forward to judging what the boy could do from the sidelines.</p><p>It was annoying.</p><p>Atsumu looked around the meadow once more for good measure, eyes scanning for any hint of orange or any cheerful chants which would signal Shouyou’s arrival. His hands itched with anticipation, probably from lack of exercise, and he readied himself to summon the training dummies with the incantation which raised them from being useless lumps of fiber to formidable training devices.</p><p>If Atsumu had to blame his lack of focus on anything, he’d blame it on the fact he was so concentrated on looking for Shouyou he hadn’t even heard Tendou sneaking up on him. As he whipped his head around, he provided one of the dummies the perfect opportunity to land a rather nasty hit to his stomach, folding him over in pain.</p><p>“Atsumu-kun, you aren’t supposed to be out here, y’know.” Tendou drawled, leaning against one of the trees. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, a small pouch of gold and a favor will keep my lips sealed.”</p><p>
  <em>A favor. </em>
</p><p>The first, and only time that Atsumu had ever done Tendou a favor was when he was twelve and running from Ushijima after he accidentally casted a pyro spell near the cattle pens, setting the whole barn ablaze within moments. Tendou had helped him, and in exchange Atsumu became his own personal maid for nearly a fortnite, performing child labor in the form of washing dishes and scrubbing down laundry in the soap bins. Never again.</p><p>Atsumu scowled at him, ready to respond with something witty, but another blow landed on his side, toppling him over into the grass. “What the fuck—!”</p><p>Almost as if Tendou took pity on him, Atsumu watched as the man inhaled dramatically and spoke the reversal charm, causing all of the dummies to flop over and topple to the ground like bags of flour. Tendou was grinning madly now, his teeth pearly and white.</p><p>“No.” Atsumu said bluntly, knowing what words were about to slip out of Tendou’s mouth. “I ain’t becomin’ yer maid again, might as well call Kita over yerself because I ain’t havin’ it.”</p><p>“Ah, ah, ah,” Tendou tutted, raising his hand and holding a finger in the air. “The favor involves sparring, but if you insist on not doing it, it can’t be helped. So long, Atsumu-kun!” He hesitated for a moment and scanned over Atsumu’s face, which was contorting into a weird sort of shock, before walking off into the treeline.</p><p>It took around three seconds for the words to register in his head, and around five to send him barrelling into the trees after him.</p><p>Tendou didn’t hide his amusement as he turned around to greet Atsumu with a wave, in his arms laid Atsumu’s training equipment. He couldn’t give less of a shit. Tendou could practically teleport, nothing shocked him anymore.</p><p>“Changed your mind?” Tendou asked, toying with a magical orb which danced around his fingers. Atsumu had gone from not being suckered into things by Tendou to playing right into his schemes twice this week, it was a new low. It was quickly transitioning into a common occurrence and if he really, <em>really</em> thought about it, he should probably back out now. But he wouldn’t, of course, and that was the end of that.</p><p>“I’ll do the favor!” Atsumu said, well, practically yelled. He watched as Tendou scanned through his items before flopping a pouch of gold into his palm. He didn’t have the heart to mention that the pouch was Osamu’s as Tendou secured it around his waist. He began walking, back turned to Atsumu.</p><p>“C’mon then, I hope you’re taking care of yourself, Atsumu-kun, we’ve got a big day planned.” Atsumu’s equipment — Osamu’s quiver, a few potions and elixirs and a snack pouch, clinked together as Tendou walked, glass connecting with glass in a migraine inducing rhythm.</p><p>“Can I have my stuff back?” Atsumu called. He was trailing behind Tendou by a few feet just in case one of the glass bottles shattered and spewed an unknown potion everywhere.</p><p>Tendou hummed. “Later. The trip’s faster this way.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, don’t break the stuff,” Atsumu grumbled, casting his eyes to the glass bottles every so often when Tendou would step over a particularly high tree root or adjust his footing on a rock.</p><p>“Trust! Atsumu-kun, you lack it. Besides, you won’t need any of this.” Tendou, almost as if proving his point, pulled out one of the vials Atsumu packed earlier and started tossing it up in the air, much like someone normal would toss up a rock. Tendou wasn’t normal.</p><p>Atsumu slowed his pace down a little more, just in case. Since they were little, the twins learned that, despite using magic to fight duels and conflicts, it was always important to bring weapons as well as an assortment of potions and elixirs in the event they ever found themselves hurt, or weakened by dark magic.</p><p>And as annoying as hauling an extra pouch on his waist had been, Atsumu never went anywhere without it whether it was to spar, or go on an expedition with the knights. Someday, it would come in handy, and he’d stop complaining to Kita about the added weight— maybe he’d save himself with the potions, or play the hero in some villager’s story—but someday was not today, and Atsumu hoped Tendou dropped the vial on himself so he could snicker.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>When Tendou said that Atsumu wouldn’t need his training equipment, he thought of it more as Tendou believing in him to kick whoever’s ass he was sparring without even needing added perks.</p><p>Atsumu’s teeth clenched at the reality of the situation. Of course he had been wrong, there was a reason he had resigned himself to never do Tendou another favor, he had been swindled, tricked, lied to, <em>betrayed</em>.</p><p>“You look like shit,” Suna said, tearing off the final piece of bandage that wrapped around his fingers. It was transparent. “Course he didn’t specify, you wouldn’t have come if he did.”</p><p>The sun was low now, nearly dark, and that made Suna look all the more evil.</p><p>Suna placed the wrap in Atsumu’s expectant palm and droned on about how easy it was for Tendou to trick him. Atsumu tuned him out. Aran once told him he had the gift of only half-listening to people, and while it really was an insult of sorts, Atsumu spun it on its head and turned it into one of his many talents. Suna talked on and off again for a few more minutes, but must’ve caught on to Atsumu’s trick because he stood up, and walked away without saying anything. Or maybe he <em>did,</em> Atsumu just didn’t hear him.</p><p>Osamu was still mad at him. He was sure of that much, considering he walked over, made eye contact with Atsumu, and turned around on his heel, without so much as a word in his direction. When that had happened, he had blinked at Suna, as if he knew the answers to what happened and how he was supposed to fix it.</p><p>Suna had responded with a lazy, “Don’t ask me.” And kept wrapping his fingers.</p><p>Yeah, Atsumu was glad he tuned him out.</p><p>Atsumu watched from his seat on a tree stump as Shouyou fiddled with his own bandages a few feet away from him, tugging at his oversized robe which kept getting in his way. If you asked Atsumu, the robe made him look even more ridiculous than he already looked. For starters, the damned thing was about two sizes too big, and would probably even fit Atsumu pretty loosely, not that he’d ever wear a robe, he only had to wear one once in his life and has sworn off them ever since.</p><p>Whoever designed his outfit must’ve hated the kid even more than Atsumu did. The robe looked as if it had once been an emerald green, but after wear and tear, became a disgusting forest color which was muddled with permanent soot stains near the sleeves. Did Shouyou not have access to cleaning spells? Or<em> bins</em>? Really, Atsumu almost felt bad for him.</p><p>Atsumu had been so entranced by making fun of Shouyou’s robe he hadn’t even realized the boy had been calling his name until Tendou smacked the top of his head lightly. He made a point of pointing directly at Shouyou and hoisting Atsumu up by his collar until he begrudgingly stood up and walked towards the boy. Despite Atsumu’s observations over the last couple days, the two hadn’t spoken since the day they baked, and even then, their interactions then hadn’t been all that great.</p><p>Still, Shouyou greeted him with a smile when Atsumu approached.</p><p>He was standing in front of Shouyou for a few seconds before either of them said anything. And for some reason, it took everything in Atsumu’s power to not just dismiss himself back to his tree stump, metaphoric tail tucked between his legs.</p><p>Atsumu hesitated offering his help for a few moments, mind too focused on the fact he had watched the boy from bushes without saying anything for two days in a row, the thought becoming more and more creepy the more he tried to rationalize it.</p><p>“Atsumu-san! Do you think you can hold up my sleeve while I wrap the bandages?” Shouyou said, trying to keep the bandage steady as he tore off a piece crookedly. It wouldn’t have shocked Atsumu if this was his first time wrapping his own hand, the wrappings were sloppy and crooked, and just about summed up Shouyou.</p><p>He wanted to say no.</p><p>“Yeah, I’ll help ya,” Atsumu returned instead, his voice came out a little hoarse.</p><p>Shouyou set his unbandaged hand on a tree log, his fingers wiggling against the bark, capturing Atsumu’s attention. He crouched down and swiped Shouyou’s bandages out of his grasp, ignoring the surprised sound Shouyou made.</p><p>“Lean forward.” Atsumu directed. Shouyou was leaning back in a way that was almost funny, his hand hyperextended, as if cautious enough to not somehow bump into Atsumu. He would have been delighted by this if Atsumu wasn’t the one wrapping his fingers, but as his shitty luck would have it, he was. “I can’t wrap if yer fingers are all tense.”</p><p>He felt Shouyou’s robe drape itself over his knee as he scooted closer, eyeing him carefully as if Atsumu was rearing to smack him if they so much as touched. It was even funnier when Atsumu remembered it had been Shouyou to call him over in the first place.</p><p>As expected, Shouyou’s robe made it plenty difficult to wrap his fingers if Shouyou wasn’t holding it down. He looked more relaxed now, and by the time Atsumu finished wrapping three fingers, his shoulder’s settled themselves into a comfortable droop.</p><p>“Yer the only person in this kingdom that wears this,” Atsumu huffed as he pushed up the sleeve, then added, “Yer robe.”</p><p>Shouyou grinned at him. “Tendou-san gave it to me after our first expedition.”</p><p>“What, when you were ten?” Atsumu wrapped the next finger a little more tightly. Focusing on wrapping was easier than looking at Shouyou’s smile.</p><p>“The robe’s not that old!”</p><p>“Coulda fooled me, looked like ya rolled in shit.”</p><p>Shouyou was pouting now. “Tendou-san tricked me into cleaning the furnace, twice.” Almost as if proving his point, Atsumu watched as Shouyou pointed at the singed parts of his sleeve, covered in soot still.</p><p>“Gross,” Atsumu said, but didn’t pull his hand away when the dirty sleeve touched him as he wrapped.</p><p>He finished Shouyou’s first hand easily enough, but tearing off the magic infused bandages on Shouyou’s other hand would be a whole battle within itself.</p><p>Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Shouyou sneak a glance at his hand.</p><p>His own wrappings were loose.</p><p>“Your hand healed already?” Shouyou asked, tilting his head as if he was thoroughly confused despite knowing Shirabu was renowned for his healing ointments.</p><p>He must’ve not met him yet. Shirabu was the lucky one.</p><p>“When Suna kicks yer ass bad enough, m’sure you’ll end up meetin’ Shirabu.” Atsumu grumbled, wrapping Shouyou’s second hand with the same meticulousness he spent on his own. It was an accident, and to further justify it, he threw in some sloppy wrappings, just for good measure.</p><p>“Whenever he’s ready, prepare to get yer ass kicked. Suna’s ghost-jutsu shit has one helluva punch,” Atsumu said, peering over at Suna who lazily flicked around an invisibility charm.</p><p>If he used it, it would be a cheap move, but Atsumu wasn’t the one judging the spar. As much as he wanted to see Shouyou get absolutely demolished, fair was fair, and using charms if Shouyou was charmless was not.</p><p>Shouyou looked annoyed. “You can’t decide the winner until we actually fight, Atsumu-san.”</p><p>Atsumu squinted his eyes at him, lowering his gaze just enough to lock eyes with Shouyou, a rush of discomfort flooding his body as Shouyou stared back, challenging. “I’ve fought him before, and I’ve won.”</p><p>Atsumu crinkled his nose, ready to hurl a well aimed insult, but before he could, Shouyou stood up and performed a halfhearted bow. “Now excuse me, your highness.”</p><p>It may have well been a slap to the face.</p><p>“Atsumu-kun! We can’t start if you're talking to the fighters!” Tendou called him over, flamboyant flames darting from his hands, setting fire to the torches which surrounded the training area.</p><p>The sun was fully set now, only the cracks of moonlight trickling down enough to make the area not lit up by torches visible.</p><p>He picked himself up off the ground and walked back over to his tree stump. From here, he’d get the best view of the arena as well as being far enough away from it to not get hit by any rogue spells or clumsy attacks.</p><p>Tendou stood by his side when the torches were done lighting.</p><p>“Are you worried Osamu-kun is never gonna forgive you?” He laid a bony hand on Atsumu’s shoulder, fingers tapping incessantly. “He won’t even stand near you, Atsumu-kun.”</p><p>Tendou’s tone dripped with feigned sympathy. But out of reflex, Atsumu’s eyes flickered over to Osamu, who sat underneath a small shack with straw roofing, he looked melancholic, but still angry, and his expression read that he’d stay angry until Atsumu apologized.</p><p>“He’ll get over it,” Atsumu grumbled, whacking away the hand that somehow felt cold even through his dress shirt and tunic, even though he was certain he saw flames emit from Tendou’s hands minutes earlier.</p><p>A cracking noise caught both of their attention, and Atsumu watched in disgust as Suna stretched his body enough until each bone released a loud pop. It looked painful, and Atsumu didn’t doubt that it was.</p><p>There had once been a time in his life where Atsumu insisted he’d much rather have Suna’s power rather than any other ability. He thought having two bodies to control would be fun, after all, it would make sneaking around a lot more simpler and messing with people a lot easier. It was only until recently when Atsumu decided to change his mind.</p><p>It had been a few months since Suna was bedridden in the hospital wing, and screaming loud enough to wake up the twins in their own tower. Osamu and Atsumu had pleaded with Kita to let them go see him, begging to check up on their friend because, at this point, they were entirely sure Shirabu had been torturing him.</p><p>Suna never screamed that loud. No one did.</p><p>Due to the circumstances, a lame excuse which basically explained how Suna’s own body had been unable to handle his magic during a failed spar, Kita redirected them back to their rooms and they waited for weeks until Suna was fully healed before they got to see him.</p><p>“Hmm, his body is still getting used to sparring.” Tendou sighed, perching his chin on the wooden fencepost he stood in front of.</p><p>“It’s been months.” Atsumu said and cringed when he realized how loud he said it. Suna was more than well aware of how much time it’d been.</p><p>“It was a nasty blow.”</p><p>“Sounded like i—wait, blow?” Atsumu’s head swiveled around to look at Tendou. His forehead still ached.</p><p>“Looks like they’re ready,” Tendou cut him off, his grin frenzied and his eyes wide with amusement. “Ah, you guys know the drill, start when I say.”</p><p>It didn’t take long for both Shouyou and Suna to ready their stances, both flowing with enough magical power that a strong aura of Suna’s forest green and blue intermixed with Shouyou’s strong yellow. Tendou raised a gangly arm in the air, and Atsumu watched as different illusions of Tendou popped out of the one standing next to him, each fully autonomous and posing, creating what looked like a snapshot in time.</p><p>The final Tendou in the chain stuck out his tongue and did a hand sign before fading out of existence, back to the source. God, that was weird as hell to watch.</p><p>That was all the signal the two needed before the match started.</p><p>Suna made the first attack, throwing something in his mouth before he catapulted a blue wisp of magic out of his palm towards Shouyou in a high arch. There was a moment where Atsumu believed Suna botched the spell, only for Suna to prove him wrong as both his ghost-like body, as well as his physical body sandwiched Shouyou. A swirl of blue and green magic burst forward and captured Shouyou in an intense light before collapsing in on itself and exploding, lighting up the area with blue and green magical particles which trickled down from the sky.</p><p>Shouyou <em>should’ve </em>been caught in the magic, injured on the ground. Suna was incredibly skilled at offense, even more of an expert in defense, there was not a chance he could’ve missed.</p><p>Shouyou <em>should’ve</em> been caught in the magic, but he <em>wasn’t</em>.</p><p>Instead, Shouyou was a few feet behind Suna’s physical body, directing a colorful current of magic that danced and fluttered in the air for a moment before crashing down and swallowing Suna whole. Except it maybe touched Suna for half a second before the magic disintegrated, melting into a dark hue of black as Suna touched it.</p><p>“Freaky.” Tendou breathed as he watched Suna direct wisps of dark magic that swirled around him before whipping to find their target.</p><p>Suna had been the only one out of any of the knights-in-training to get the permission to use dark magic. Although, it was mainly due to the fact that all of his magic <em>was</em> dark magic, a result of his creepy ghost out of body experiences. Atsumu wasn’t jealous, not at all.</p><p>Atsumu watched as Shouyou narrowly dodged an uppercut from Suna’s ghost form.</p><p>He had been in Shouyou’s shoes once, and the fight was exhausting. Dodging Suna’s attacks took every ounce of stamina and power someone has built up, only for it to push past the limits with each attack, because the universe blessed Suna with not just one but two insanely powerful bodies to control and defeat.</p><p>Atsumu gave it five minutes before Shouyou collapsed from exhaustion. Maybe less.</p><p>“He’s strong, huh?”</p><p>Atsumu looked at Tendou. He was staring at the fight still.</p><p>“Suna’s always been strong.” Atsumu pressed his lips into a thin line as he watched Suna get caught up in a particularly nasty bind, rendering his physical form immobile.</p><p>“M’not talking about Suna, Atsumu-kun.” Tendou lolled his head creepily to look at him. Atsumu didn’t look back.</p><p>“Other than bein’ fast, he hasn’t done anythin’ impressive. Just a scrub with one talent.” Atsumu spoke a little too loud, trying to overpower the sounds of hexes and spells being shot out.</p><p>“You were like that once.” Again, there was a creepy, boney hand on his shoulder.</p><p>Atsumu scoffed. Yeah, right.</p><p>“I oughta get ya beheaded for sayin’ somethin’ so stupid.”</p><p>“Wakatoshi-kun wouldn’t be happy.”</p><p>“Even better.”</p><p>There was a vibrant flash of light which caught both of their attention. It disappeared as soon as it happened and Atsumu didn’t even manage a glance at it before his attention turned to the scene in front of him.</p><p>Shouyou had gotten Suna pinned between a boundary of buzzing yellow magic and his body, disarming Suna and leaving both of his bodies useless unless he could figure out a way to get himself out of the increasingly dire predicament. A flash of hesitation flashed on Suna’s face before Shouyou struck him with a painful blow to the stomach.<br/>
He was fast.</p><p>A weird sort of pride was practically oozing out of Tendou as he watched Shouyou wrack blow after blow into Suna’s disembodied frame. The blue glow around Suna faltered ever so slightly with each new impact.</p><p>Atsumu knew what that meant. Shouyou, by the looks of it, did not.</p><p>A thin layer of black colored magic encircled the pair within a second, consuming them and concealing all their movements within the darkness. They vanished.</p><p>By the time the heavy fog cleared, Suna had flipped the tides and restrained Shouyou, his ghost-like form wrecked out of commission but his physical form was rejuvenated with new surges of energy. Suna was evil. Nasty. Smart.</p><p>Several hard blows hit. Atsumu stopped paying attention.</p><p>“He wants to be a knight, right?” Atsumu asked. His tone was calm, neutral.</p><p>Tendou picked up on the energy change right away, but didn’t seem to shy away from answering. He let out a heavy sigh. “Shouyou-kun isn’t a noble. Doesn’t seem to stop him, though.”</p><p>There was another flash of light. Atsumu didn’t turn his head.</p><p>Tendou spoke again, his voice holding a little more volume than normal. “Strays like Shouyou-kun take what they can get.”</p><p>Atsumu narrowed his eyes. Something about Tendou’s description about Shouyou hit him with a wave of familiarity, although he wasn’t entirely sure why. Tendou had nicknames for practically everyone, and rarely were any of them nice, ‘stray’ was no exception. What was it about the word that made Atsumu’s chest tighten? It was uncomfortable, to say the minimum.</p><p>“He could never be a knight.” He turned back to the fight and watched as Suna continued to hold the upperhand. “Doesn’t matter how hard he trains, if he’s shit he’s shit.”</p><p>Tendou didn’t say anything.</p><p>Atsumu continued. “He’s alright at attackin’, but as soon as one hit lands, he gets fucked up. The one time he beat Suna must’ve been a lucky break, ‘cause it's never gonna happen again.”</p><p>“Is that so?” Tendou hummed.</p><p>Tendou sounded amused, but not in the way that meant he wanted Atsumu to keep talking, it was almost as if he was daring him to. Atsumu wondered if Tendou expected an apology.</p><p>Tendou crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Atsumu, leering at him through heavily hooded eyes. The slightest aura of red magic illuminated off of him and if Atsumu hadn’t been so observant he probably would have mistaken it for the glow of the torch fire reflecting off Tendou’s skin.</p><p>Something about Tendou felt off, as if he was protecting Shouyou.</p><p>Atsumu glared. “Is this yer way of tryna tell me he’s been practicing?”</p><p>Tendou let out a long, slow exhale before he smiled. “If you underestimate him, not being able to practice until the storm calms down will be the least of your worries,” his eyes crinkled as he added, “your highness.”</p><p>“I had better skills than him when I was ten.”</p><p>“You also nearly died at ten, don’t forget it.”</p><p>The battle was quiet now, almost as if it had stopped. Atsumu should quiet down. He should bite his tongue. He doesn’t.</p><p>“He’d have better chances at leaving the kingdom and hoping some other one took pity on him than ever becoming a knight here.”</p><p>If he cared enough, he probably should’ve taken it back. He felt eyes on him, and not just Tendou’s anymore. Irritated, he turned back at the spar and watched as the world flipped on its axis, and time stood still — because in front of him, Shouyou was releasing a weird sort of light from his palm, one Atsumu hadn’t seen since he was ten and running for his life in the forest.</p><p>Atsumu’s heart pounded in his ears. The light grew bigger, brighter.</p><p>There was no way. He was in a nightmare, he had to be, because the realization of just who exactly Shouyou was, terrified him.</p><p>Tendou yelled for the spar to stop. It did. The light never made impact with Suna, instead it fizzled out but the aura around Shouyou remained red, and angry.</p><p>The four year-old mystery about what happened to the boy in the woods was just starting to unravel before Atsumu. The boy’s name had been Hinata.</p><p><em>Hinata</em>.</p><p><em>Hinata Shouyou</em>.</p><p>Atsumu hadn’t realized he had been walking until he was standing face to face with Shouyou. There were about a million things that rushed into his head to say, to ask. Shouyou had been in front of him for the last few days and yet speaking to him suddenly meant swallowing a lump in his throat.</p><p>Shouyou beat him to it. “What do you want, your highness.” It was more of a statement than a question. There was a biting chill in the air now that wasn’t there before. No, the weather wasn’t the only thing that was cold.</p><p>Shouyou red aura glowed dangerously.</p><p>Then it dawned on him, everything he had said. Karma had come full swing and knocked Atsumu right on his ass, and the only thing he could do is hope that for some unlikely reason Shouyou was mad at the spar ending early, and not at his offhand remarks.</p><p>No, Shouyou had definitely heard him. He was fuming.</p><p>“Shouyou-kun,” Atsumu tried, hoping to come up with something, anything to deescalate the interaction. “Suna really took a beating, coulda sworn I saw his soul pop out,” Atsumu said humorlessly. He had never been funny.</p><p>“Yeah.” Shouyou said dismissively, his eyes scanning the area behind Atsumu, probably searching for Tendou.</p><p>The torches around them were slowly flickering out.</p><p>Atsumu sucked in a breath. The conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere, and if Atsumu wanted to get his point across he’d just have to suck it up and deal with the consequences later.</p><p>“I met ya in the forest when I was ten, ya ended up uhm, saving me from this troll lookin’ thing.” Atsumu searched Shouyou’s face for any hint of recollection, there was none, and Atsumu didn’t know if pressing on would help, but that’s all he’s ever really known to do.</p><p>He knew it was a mistake as soon as he opened his mouth.</p><p>Atsumu’s voice was a little weaker now, more hoarse. “We were friends—.”</p><p>“Your highness, I’m sorry but I think you’re confused, I don’t remember that.” Shouyou’s fiery red aura was no longer visible. His voice was steady, no longer holding any of his normal friendly tone, it sounded as fake as the voices the knights used to talk with him.</p><p>“And even if I did,” Shouyou continued, his tone shifting, “I think I’d have better luck making friends in another kingdom.” Shouyou spat. Since when had he ever spoken to Atsumu this way? Even after all the things Atsumu said to him, he never responded like this, like he was angry too. Like Atsumu went too far again. “Or maybe, I’d have luck with friendship in this kingdom, just not with <em>you</em>.”</p><p>With that, Shouyou bowed, fake smile and all, before he dismissed himself.</p><p>For what seemed like the first time that day, lightning crackled in the sky, splitting it in two. And as he watched Osamu and Shouyou walk away, each in opposite directions from him, he bit back the urge to frown, to say something, to apologize.</p><p>Not because he didn’t want to, but because the words were bound to come out pitiful.</p><p>The single lit torch bore witness to Atsumu finding his own words after everyone had already disappeared from view. “<em>Fuck</em>.”</p><p>
  <em>What had he done?</em>
</p><p>The torch blew out.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>find me on twitter!: <a href="https://twitter.com/KKITSUNII">KKITSUNII</a></p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>feel free to drop a comment if you enjoyed this so far, i love reading them! :]</p></blockquote></div></div>
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